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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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All Men Persons Psychiatry People Self Ifs Children Humans Illness Mental Illness Age Drug Psychiatrist Concepts Doe Individual Medical Patient Problem Adults

Famous Thomas Szasz Quotes

“The Christian ethic did not raise the worth of female life much above the Jewish: nor did the clinical ethic raise it much above the clerical. This is why most of those identified as witches by male inquisitors were women; and why most of those diagnosed as hysterics by male psychiatrists were also women.”

Christian Ethics Female Raises Males Witch Psychiatrist Clinicals Christian Ethics

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

“Since this is the age of science, not religion, psychiatrists are our rabbis, heroin is our pork, and the addict is the unclean person.”

Persons Age Addict Psychiatrist Heroin Pork Rabbi

Book:The second sin

Source: The second sin

“Psychiatrists look for twisted molecules and defective genes as the causes of schizophrenia, because schizophrenia is the name of a disease. If Christianity or Communism were called diseases, would they then look for the chemical and genetic "causes" of these "conditions"?”

Ifs Looks Names Causes Christianity Conditions Disease Communism Chemicals Genes Twisted Psychiatrist Molecules Schizophrenia Defective

Book:The second sin

Source: The second sin

“The two greatest enemies of the individual in the modern world are communism and psychiatry. Each wages a relentless war against that which makes a person an individual: communism against the ownership of property, psychiatry against the ownership of the self (mind and body). Communists criminalize the autonomous use of capital and labor, and harshly punish those who "traffic" in the black market, especially in foreign currencies. Psychiatrists criminalize the autonomous use of the self, and harshly punish those who "traffic" in self-abuse, especially in self-medication and self-destruction.”

Source: The Untamed Tongue: A Dissenting Dictionary

“When the psychiatrist approves of a person's actions, he judges that person to have acted with "free choice"; when he disapproves,he judges him to have acted without "free choice." It is small wonder that people find "free choice" a confusing idea: "free choice" appears to refer to what the person being judged (often called the "patient") does, whereas it is actually what the person making the judgment (often a psychiatrist or other mental health worker) thinks.”

People Thinking Persons Doe Ideas Action Choices Wonder Judging Judgment Mental Health Workers Patient Judged Confusing Psychiatrist Free Choice Being Judged Health Workers

Author:Thomas Szasz

“Psychiatric expert testimony: mendacity masquerading as medicine.”

Medicine Experts Testimony Psychiatry Psychiatrist Psychiatric Mendacity Psychiatric Hospitals

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

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

“Involuntary mental hospitalization is like slavery. Refining the standards for commitment is like prettifying the slave plantations. The problem is not how to improve commitment, but how to abolish it”

Problem Standards Commitment Slavery Slave Psychological Psychiatry Psychiatrist Abolish Involuntary Refining Psychiatric Plantations

Author:Thomas Szasz

“Psychiatry is probably the single most destructive force that has affected American Society within the last fifty years.”

Years Lasts Force Medicine Fifty Destructive Affected Psychiatry Psychiatrist American Society

Author:Thomas Szasz