Thomas Szasz (born 1920) is Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry at the State University of New York Health Science Center. He is a well-known critic of psychiatry, of the social role of medicine in modern society, and is a social libertarian.
In the Preface to the First Edition (1960) of this book, he writes, "Although my thesis is that mental illness is a myth, this book is not an attempt to 'debunk psychiatry'... although I consider the concept of mental illness to be unserviceable, I believe that psychiatry could be a science. I also believe that psychotherapy is an effective method of helping people---not to recover from an 'illness,' but rather to learn about themselves, others, and life."
Here are some representative quotations from the book:
"In this respect---and indeed not only in this respect---psychiatry resembles religion rather than science, politics rather than medicine."
"In ... the traditional psychiatric view, the physician defines what is good or bad, sick or healthy. In the individualistic, autonomous 'psychotherapy' which I prefer, the patient himself defines what is good or bad, sick or healthy."
"By and large, such persons impersonate the roles of helplessness, hopelessness, weakness, and often of bodily illness---when, in fact, their actual roles pertain to frustrations, unhappinesses, and perplexities due to interpersonal, social, and ethical conflicts."
"Mental illness is not something a person has, but is something he does or is."
"There is no medical, moral, or legal justification for involuntary psychiatric interventions. They are crimes against humanity."
![have a Complete Commodity Biography Reference List? [2/11]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/71HAGQGKF8L._AA60_.gif)
