Key Research: Szasz - The myth of mental illness

Question 1

Who was Thomas Szasz?

Answer 1

• He wrote an essay called ‘The Myth of Mental Illness’, challenging the approach to mental illness
• Believed mental disorders do not exist and thought we were actually harming patients by trying to ‘help’
• Then wrote a follow-up essay before he died

Question 2

What points did Szasz make in his first essay?

Answer 2

• Mental illness doesn’t exist
• Mental patients treated no better than prisoners
• Mental illness is not like a physical disease

Question 3

What point did Szasz make in his second essay?

Answer 3

• Aim of mental health care is paid by public money to prevent danger to patients or others
• Mental illness labelled as a disease which has led to people accepting therapy or treatment
• ‘False belief’ that all mental illness can be diagnosed accurately and treated successfully
• Goal is to cure the patient, and if patient does something evil/bad it’s due to mental illness
• Mental illness not caused by bacteria or viruses - people have reasons for behaviours and need to be understood not treated

Question 4

What are the conclusions of Szasz’s essays?

Answer 4

-By trying to treat people, we are in fact harming them