Myth of Psychotherapy

Health, Fitness & Dieting

Thomas Szasz

Psychology & Counseling

Oxford University Press

If, as the Old Testament tells us, the First or Original Sin was the knowledge of good and evil, then the knowledge of clear speech was the “Second Sin,” At Babel, God punished man for this transgression with the Divine Confusion, and we have been misleading each other ever since. Dr. Thomas Szasz believes that it is this confusion of language that has produced much of the inhumanity, intolerance, and outright stupidity which today affect everything from our politics to our sex lives. This is Dr. Szasz’s effort to dispel some of this confusion. It is a collection of penetrating, fresh, and often humorous thoughts, ranging from sex and the family to drugs, schizophrenia, and psychiatry. For example, Dr. Szasz points out that when a person acts as if he were speaking to God we say he is praying, but when he acts as if God were speaking to him we say he has “schizophrenia” — and we look to medical science to “cure” him of his “mental illness.” Other excerpts from the Second Formerly, Americans charges with murder were considered innocent until proven guilty; now they are considered insane until proven sane. the primary sexual activity of mankind. In the nineteenth century, it was a disease; in the twentieth, it is a cure. Treating addiction to heroin with methadone is like treating addiction to Scotch with Bourbon.

The Second Sin

Reference

Anchor Press

If, as the Old Testament tells us, the First or Original Sin was the knowledge of good and evil, then the knowledge of clear speech was the "Second Sin." At Babel, God punished man for this transgression with the Divine Confusion, and we have been misleading each other ever since. Dr. Thomas Szasz believes that it is this confusion of language that has produced much of the inhumanity, intolerance, and outright stupidity which today affect everything from our politics to our sex lives. The Second Sin is Dr. Szasz's delightful effort to dispel some of this confusion. It is a collection of penetrating, fresh, and often humorous thoughts, ranging from sex and the family to drugs, schizophrenia, and psychiatry. For example, Dr. Szasz points out that when a person acts as if he were speaking to God we say he is praying, but when he acts as if God were speaking to him we say he has "schizophrenia" - and we look to medical science to "cure" him of his "mental illness." Other Excerpts from The Second Sin: Formerly, Americans charged with murder were considered innocent until proven guilty; now they are considered insane until proven sane. Masturbation: the primary sexual activity of mankind. In the nineteenth century, it was a disease; in the twentieth, it is a cure. Treating addiction to heroin with methadone is like treating addiction to Scotch with Bourbon.

Anchor Books

The Age of Madness

Bantam/Doubleday/Dell

Dust jacket is chipped at the edges.

Ceremonial Chemistry: The Ritual Persecution of Drugs, Addicts, and Pushers

Politics & Social Sciences

Social Sciences

Ceremonial Chemistry

Anchor Press/Doubleday

This intriguing book undercuts everything you thought you knew about psychotherapy. Until recent years, ''bad'' and ''immoral'' were the terms used to describe people who are now referred to as ''sick'' and ''in need of treatment.'' Moral and religious perspective has been replaced by medical and therapeutic rhetoric. It is little wonder why the world is plagued by legions of rapists, drug users, murderers, thieves, and child abusers, all of whom are now referred to as having one form or another of ''addiction'' and are thus either ''sick'' or suffering from ''mental illness.'' Accordingly, modern psychotherapists claim that these are in need of specialized ''therapy'' or ''treatment'' to help them ''cope with their disease.'' Moral relativism, bolstered by psychotherapy, has prevailed over the traditional ideas of self-control, individual responsibility, and moral culpability. Thomas Szasz moves to demythologize psychotherapy itself in a most provocative manner.

The myth of psychotherapy: Mental healing as religion, rhetoric, and repression

DOUBLEDAY

In this seminal work, Dr. Szasz examines the similarities between the Inquisition and institutional psychiatry. His purpose is to show "that the belief in mental illness and the social actions to which it leads have the same moral implications and political consequences as had the belief in witchcraft and the social actions to which it led."

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

Routledge & Kegan Paul PLC

Originally called mad-doctoring, psychiatry began in the seventeenth century with the establishing of madhouses and the legal empowering of doctors to incarcerate persons denominated as insane. Until the end of the nineteenth century, every relationship between psychiatrist and patient was based on domination and coercion, as between master and slave. Psychiatry, its emblem the state mental hospital, was a part of the public sphere, the sphere of coercion. The advent of private psychotherapy, at the end of the nineteenth century, split psychiatry in two: some patients continued to be the involuntary inmates of state hospitals; others became the voluntary patients of privately practicing psychotherapists. Psychotherapy was officially defined as a type of medical treatment, but actually was a secular-medical version of the cure of souls. Relationships between therapist and patient, Thomas Szasz argues, was based on cooperation and contract, as is relationships between employer and employee, or, between clergyman and parishioner. Psychotherapy, its emblem the therapist's office, was a part of the private sphere, the contract. Through most of the twentieth century, psychiatry was a house divided-half-slave, and half-free. During the past few decades, psychiatry became united again: all relations between psychiatrists and patients, regardless of the nature of the interaction between them, are now based on actual or potential coercion. This situation is the result of two major "reforms" that deprive therapist and patient alike of the freedom to contract with one another: Therapists now have a double duty: they must protect all mental patients-involuntary and voluntary, hospitalized or outpatient, incompetent or competent-from themselves. They must also protect the public from all patients. Persons designated as mental patients may be exempted from responsibility for the deleterious consequences of their own behavior if it is attributed to mental illness. The radical differences between the coercive character of mental hospital practices in the public sphere, and the consensual character of psychotherapeutic practices in the private sphere, are thus destroyed. At the same time, as the scope of psychiatric coercion expands from the mental hospital to the psychiatrist's office, its reach extends into every part of society, from early childhood to old age.

Liberation by Oppression: A Comparative Study of Slavery and Psychiatry

Routledge

Thomas Szasz is renowned for his critical exploration of the literal language of psychiatry and his rejection of officially sanctioned definitions of mental illness. His work has initiated a continuing debate in the psychiatric community whose essence is often misunderstood. Szasz's critique of the established view of mental illness is rooted in an insistent distinction between disease and behavior. In his view, psychiatrists have misapplied the vocabulary of disease as metaphorical figures to denote a range of deviant behaviors from the merely eccentric to the criminal. In A Lexicon of Lunacy, Szasz extends his analysis of psychiatric language to show how its misuse has resulted in a medicalized view of life that denies the reality of free will and responsibility. Szasz documents the extraordinary extent to which modern diagnosis of mental illness is subject to shifting social attitudes and values. He shows how economic, personal, legal, and political factors have come to play an increasingly powerful role in the diagnostic process, with consequences of blurring the distinction between cultural and scientific standards. Broadened definitions of mental illness have had a corrosive effect on the criminal justice system in undercutting traditional conceptions of criminal behavior and have encouraged state-sanctioned coercive interventions that bestow special privileges (and impose special hardships) on persons diagnosed as mentally ill. Lucidly written and powerfully argued, and now available in paperback, this provocative and challenging volume will be of interest to psychologists, criminologists, and sociologists.

A Lexicon of Lunacy: Metaphoric Malady, Moral Responsibility and Psychiatry

Self-Help

Death & Grief

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Thomas Szasz. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Thomas Szasz

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Thomas Szasz. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Myth of Psychotherapy

The Second Sin

The Second Sin

The Age of Madness

Ceremonial Chemistry: The Ritual Persecution of Drugs, Addicts, and Pushers

Ceremonial Chemistry

The myth of psychotherapy: Mental healing as religion, rhetoric, and repression

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

Liberation by Oppression: A Comparative Study of Slavery and Psychiatry

A Lexicon of Lunacy: Metaphoric Malady, Moral Responsibility and Psychiatry