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Thomas Szasz

Thomas Szasz Quotes

Psychiatrist

Thomas Szasz, born on April 15, 1920 in Hungary, was a renowned American psychiatrist, writer, and philosopher. He is known for his critical views on psychiatry and liberalism, particularly his skepticism about the nature of mental illness and his emphasis on individual freedom.

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Famous Thomas Szasz Quotes

“The primary problem with modern psychiatry is its reduction of mental illness to bodily dysfunction. Objectification of those identified as mentally ill, by insisting on the somatic nature of their illness, may apparently simplify matters and help protect those trying to provide care from the pain experienced by those needing support. But psychiatric assessment too often fails to appreciate personal and social precursors of mental illness by avoiding or not taking account of such psychosocial considerations. Mainstream psychiatry acts on the somatic hypothesis of mental illness to the detriment of understanding people's problems.”

Medicine Mental Health Mental Illness Psychiatry Anti Psychiatry

Book:The Myth of Mental Illness: Foundations of a Theory of Personal Conduct

Source: The Myth of Mental Illness: Foundations of a Theory of Personal Conduct

“Whereas protecting society is very eminently a legitimate function of society, but must in my opinion be exercised under the rubric of the law and due process, and never under the rubric of medicine or science or mental health.”

Mental Health Mental Illness Psychiatry Involuntary Psychiatric Commitment

Author:Thomas Szasz

“We shall therefore compare the concept of homosexuality as heresy, prevalent in the days of the witch-hunts, with the concept of homosexuality as mental illness, prevalent today.”

Today Concepts Illness Mental Illness Compare Witch Homosexuality Hunts Heresy Witch Hunt

Book:The Manufacture of Madness: A Comparative Study of the Inquisition and the Mental Health Movement

Source: The Manufacture of Madness: A Comparative Study of the Inquisition and the Mental Health Movement

“The disease concept of homosexuality as with the disease concept of all so-called mental illnesses, such as alcoholism, drug addiction, or suicide conceals the fact that homosexuals are a group of medically stigmatized and socially persecuted individuals. ... Their anguished cries of protest are drowned out by the rhetoric of therapy just as the rhetoric of salvation drowned out the [cries] of heretics.”

Source: The Manufacture of Madness: A Comparative Study of the Inquisition and the Mental Health Movement

“So long as men denounce each other as mentally sick (homosexual, addicted, insane, and so forth) so that the madman can always be considered the Other, never the Self mental illness will remain an easily exploitable concept, and Coercive Psychiatry a flourishing institution.”

Men Long Self Concepts Sick Institutions Illness Mental Illness Insane Homosexual Psychiatry Madmen Flourishing

Book:The Manufacture of Madness: A Comparative Study of the Inquisition and the Mental Health Movement

Source: The Manufacture of Madness: A Comparative Study of the Inquisition and the Mental Health Movement

“If you talk to God, you are praying; If God talks to you, you have schizophrenia.”

Ifs Humor Prayer Praying Depression Humorous Mental Illness Cynical Schizophrenia Talking To God Always Praying

Author:Thomas Szasz

“Mental illness, of course, is not literally a "thing" - or physical object - and hence it can "exist" only in the same sort of way in which other theoretical concepts exist.”

Way Courses Objects Concepts Illness Mental Illness Theoretical Bipolar Mentally Ill

Author:Thomas Szasz

“There is no such thing as mental illness, hence also no such thing as psychotherapy.”

Illness Mental Illness Psychotherapy

Author:Thomas Szasz

“No further evidence is needed to show that 'mental illness' is not the name of a biological condition whose nature awaits to be elucidated, but is the name of a concept whose purpose is to obscure the obvious.”

Shows Purpose Names Nature Conditions Needed Concepts Evidence Illness Obvious Mental Illness Obscure

Book:Words to the Wise: A Medical-Philosophical Dictionary

Source: Words to the Wise: A Medical-Philosophical Dictionary

“Mental illness is a myth, whose function is to disguise and thus render more palatable the bitter pill of moral conflicts in human relations.”

Humans Moral Conflict Function Relation Illness Myth Mental Illness Bitter Disguise Pills Psychoanalysis Human Relations

Book:Words to the Wise: A Medical-Philosophical Dictionary

Source: Words to the Wise: A Medical-Philosophical Dictionary