Resumo de The Myth Of Mental Illness

The Myth of Mental Illness is one of those books that never fail to stir up a lot of conflicting emotions, or at least it should. This book, by the Dr. Thomas Szasz, is perhaps the most famous single salvo fired against the psychiatric establishment.This book was written at a time when there was growing awareness of the many abuses of psychiatric care, including institutionalization, over-medication, and abuse of clients. He reviews the historical development of psychiatry and is very open in criticizing what he views as pseudo-science and secrecy. He points out that the psychiatric diagnoses bandied about with such authority are in fact artificial constructs, labels for clusters of human behavior that may or may not be any more useful than any other label. Of particular concern to Szasz are the ways in which the illness label robs the client not only of the means to make independent changes in their life, but also of any sense of accountability for their behavior. If you watch the news today with a sense of incredulity at the ?I can?t help it, I?m sick? thought process, then your thinking is in some ways consistent with that of Szasz.Szasz was also a forerunner in understanding that psychiatric practice, as any type of practice, occurs within a social context. He clearly outlines that context and how it impacted the development of psychiatry, and more importantly, what the ramifications are for individuals diagnosed with mental illness. This leads to a very technical discussion of how various ?mental illness? behaviors can also be conceptualized using a game-playing model.There are many people who seem to believe that The Myth of Mental Illness, is anti-patient, that it is telling people that there is nothing wrong with them and they just need to ?cut it out? and change their behavior. That is a seriously flawed analysis. What Szasz does is challenge the dogma of psychiatry, a psychiatrist-centered and paternalistic schema that disempowers clients. Anyone who has benefited from recent changes in psychiatric treatment that are more resiliency and recovery based, and the push for increased accountability on the part of both clients and treatment providers, owes no small debt of gratitude to Thomas Szasz.

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