4. The Age of Enlightenment
The Congress of the Dialectics of
Liberation ~ 1967, London
Psychiatrists
Marxist Intellectuals
Anarchists
Political leaders
Thomas, Philip & Bracken, Patrick (2004)
5. Dr. David Cooper {1931 - 1986}
South African Psychiatrist
Coined the term “anti-psychiatry”
Marxist Revolutionary
Wrote numerous essays against psycho-
politics
Encouraged revolution against orthodox
psychiatry
“Madness” and “Psychosis” were products
of society
“Knowing what ain’t so” – Thomas Szasz (2005)
6. Dr. Ronald D. Laing {1927 - 1989}
Scottish Psychiatrist
Critic of psychiatric diagnoses as
biological phenomena
Co-founded a community based
psychiatric facility for
schizophrenics (Kingsley Hall)
Author of numerous books on
mental health
“Knowing what ain’t so” – Thomas Szasz (2005)
7. Dr. Leon Redler & Dr. Joseph Berke
“Knowing what ain’t so” – Thomas Szasz (2005)
8. “The trouble with people, is not what
they don’t know but that they know so
much that ain’t so.”
- Josh Billings, American humorist
9. Citizens Commission on Human Rights
CCHR Conference - Dr. Szasz
CCHRint. Thomas Szasz, Professor of Psychology Emeritus.
11. Dr. Thomas Szasz
Born on April 15, 1920 in Budapest – Hungary.
1944 - Medical Degree from University of Cincinnati.
Chicago Institute for Psychoanalysis, certificate, 1950.
Member: American Psychiatric Association (fellow), American
Psychoanalytic Association.
The Myth of Mental Illness (1961)
Law, Liberty, and Psychiatry
The Theology of Medicine
Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry -State University of New York.
www.szasz.com
12. The Myth of Mental Illness
Part One:
Hysteria: Differences between body illnesses from their
imitations.
Psychiatry is a pseudo-science.
Nonsensical to treat behaviors using a medical approach
Mental Illness as a fallacy.
Part Two:
Man’s Responsibility
Development of Moral Thinking
Moral Issues in psychiatry and psychology
Szasz, Thomas (1961). The Myth of Mental Illness
13. “Mental Illness”
The Convenient Myth
Age of Faith:
Religion mimics Science
Age of Science:
Psychiatry mimics Science
Szasz, Thomas (2006). The Pretense of Psychology as Science
15. What is an Illness?
Biological deviation from the norm
Cancer
Body Temperature
Hypertension
Szasz, Thomas. The Myth of Mental Illness
16. “It takes one person to develop a real
disease. But it takes two people to
develop a mental illness”
- Dr. Thomas Szasz
Thomas Szasz. cchr.org
17. What is a “Mental Illness”?
Psychological deviation from the Norm?
Psychological Norms - tied to cultural, social,
ethical, and legal contexts.
Depression
Anxiety
Divorce
Vengeance
Szasz, Thomas. The Myth of Mental Illness
18. Diagnosing “Mental Illness”
Psychiatrist/Psychotherapist
is an “active participant”.
Diagnoses are subjective.
Influenced by psychosocial
and ethical constraints.
Szasz, Thomas. The Myth of Mental Illness
19. Treating “Mental Illness”
Assumptions
Problems with daily living – pathological.
“Patients” are not responsible.
Claims objective and value-free diagnoses.
Behavioral deviations are biological/neurological
conditions.
Existing biological tests.
Szasz, Thomas. The Myth of Mental Illness
20. “Mental Illness” -- Behavioral
Maladjustment
If not Nature, then Nurture.
Lose term for describing the manifestation of
mankind's struggle to live.
Szasz, Thomas. The Myth of Mental Illness
21. On Obscenity
“ . . . I know it when I see it . . .”
-- Justice Potter Stewart - 1964
22. Becoming Real Doctors
Diagnoses (Labels)
Manual ~
The DSM
Treatment
(Psychotropic drugs)
Thomas Szasz. cchr.org
23. Psychiatry and Pharmaceutical
Companies
“Conjoined twins joined at the wallet”
-Kay Carlson former drug rep. cchr.org
26. Breeding Violence
School Shooters on Drugs
Illinois – February 14, 2008: 27-year-old Steven Kazmierczak killed 5 ~ Xanax
Nebraska – December 5, 2007: 19-year-old Robert Hawkins killed 9 ~ Valium
Jokela, Finland – November 7, 2007: 18-year-old Finnish gunman Pekka-Eric Auvinend killed 8 ~
antidepressants
Cleveland - October 10, 2007: 14-year-old Asa Coon killed 1, wounded 4 ~ Trazodone
Blacksburg, Virginia – April 16, 2007: The psychiatric drug history of Seung-Hui Cho in the Virginia
Tech Massacre was never made public.~ “depression medication”
Lake, Minnesota – March 2005: 16-year-old Jeff Weise, killed 10 ~ Prozac.
New York – February 2004: 16-year-old Jon Romano opened fire on school mates ~ “medication
for depression”.
CCHR.org. List of School and Teen Shooters
27. Breeding Violence
School Shooters on Drugs
Idaho – April 16, 1999: 15-year-old Shawn Cooper, opened fire in school ~ SSRI
antidepressant and Ritalin
Springfield, Oregon – May 21, 1998: 15-year-old Kip Kinkel, killed 4 ~ Prozac
El Cajon, California – March 22, 2001: 18-year-old Jason Hoffman, opened fire on
classmates ~ Celexa and Effexor
Pennsylvania – March 7, 2000: 14-year-old Elizabeth Bush shot fellow students ~ Prozac
Georgia – May 20, 1999: 15-year-old T.J. Solomon, shot and wounded 6 ~ andti
depressants
Columbine, Colorado – April 20, 1999: 18-year-old Eric Harris, Dylan Klebold, killed 13~
Luvox (Harris)
CCHR.org. List of School and Teen Shooters
28. The Facts
100 million people worldwide are on psychotropic
medications.
As of 2009 17 million children are prescribed
psychotropic drugs.
580% increase (from 1995) in anti-depressant
prescription for children under 6 yrs old.
3000 psychotropic-related deaths per year (world wide).
http://www.fightforkids.org/facts.html
29. Cui Bono?
(Who Benefits?)
Dissonance between the nature of Mental
Disorders (behavioral) and their Treatment
(biological).
Pharmaceutical Companies
Psychiatrists/Psychotherapists
Families?
Patients?
32. Conclusions ~ So What?
Effect of Psychiatry
on Psychology
Paradigm Shift
Critical Psychiatry
33. Instrumental Sources
Citizens Commission on
Human Rights
Survivors Speak Out
National Self-Harm
Network
The Hearing Voices
Network, Mad Pride and
Mad Women
35. References
Biley, Francis C. (2009). Review: Critical Psychiatry: The Limits of Madness.
Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing. Vol 16, 214 - 223
CCHRint. Psychiatry's Prescription for Violence Teaser. September 05, 2008.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Z-9aYvTtIw&feature=channel.
CCHRint. Thomas Szasz, Professor of Psychology Emeritus. February 16, 2008.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQegsqYhuZE&feature=related. Retrieved
April, 25, 2009.
CCHR.org. List of School and Teen Shooters. White Papers. Retrieved April 25,
2009.
Duncan B. Double (2004). Biomedical Bias of the American Psychiatric
Association. Ethical Human Psychohgy and Psychiatry, Vol. 6, 2.
Fight for Kids. http://www.fightforkids.org/facts. Retrieved April 25, 2009.
John A. Vernon Joseph H. Golec, Randall Lutter and Clark Nardinelli (2006). FDA
New Drug Approval Times, Prescription Drug User Fees, and R & D Spending.
Szasz, Thomas. (2005) Knowing What Ain't So - R.D Laing and Thomas Szasz.
Existential Analysis 16.1.
36. References
Szasz, Thomas. www.szasz.com Retrieved April 25, 2009.
Szasz, Thomas (1961). The Myth of Mental Illness: Foundations of a Theory of
Personal Conduct
Szasz, Thomas (2006). The Pretense of Psychology as Science:The Myth of
Mental Illness in Statu Nascendi
Telegraph News (November 2008). Parrot Given Prozac After Owner Dies.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/3487321/Parrot-
given-Prozac-after-owner-dies.html
Thomas, Philip and Bracken, Patrick (2004). Critical Psychiatry in Practice.
Advances in Psychiatric Treatment. vol. 10, 361 - 370.