Social ethics

Bibliography: Szasz, T.  (1963)  Law, Liberty and Psychiatry: An Inquiry into the Social Uses of Mental Health Practices. New York, NY, US: MacMillan Co. 9-22.

For the past few days I've been looking over some of Thomas Szasz's works regarding his beleifs towards mental illness. Thus far I've read a few chapters from 'Law, Liberty, and Psychiatry: An Inquiry into the Social Uses of Mental Health Practices' (1963) and I am taken aback at the intellect of Szasz. He uses very clear and keen examples and breaks down his notions about mental illness into a few parts. One thing he has stressed in a lot of the reading I've done is the notion of labels.  in the chapter titled What is Mental Illness, He argues that '[mental illness] be removed from the category of illnesses, and that [mental illness] be regarded as the expressions of man's struggle with the problem of how he should live'(pg. 16). He continually states that mental illness unlike physical ailments are mythological because mental illness does not hold a place in the physical body but rather consists of a "...violat[ion] of certain ethical, political, and social norms"(pg. 17.) What also strikes me is that he says a key issue in the 'myth of mental illness' is the epistemological view of mental illness. Basically that psychiatrists (and psychologists)  interpreted communication about humanity and the world as symptoms of neurological functioning. This for one thing is a very interesting concept. He later goes to elaborate more on language and how it degrades a persons credentials while also destroying their social standing. Sazsz goes on to give a few examples of what the term mentally ill or mental illness does to a person. He says that changes within the filed of psychoanalysis simply transplant certain people from the outgroup to the ingroup.

Reactions to the theory:
As an up and coming clinician, I initially selected Szasz because of his distaste of the field. What I found the most interesting of his work thus far is the constant emphasis to language. As someone who finds words very fascinating and very poinient, I find his constant need to drill the importance of labels very interesting. I however don't agree that mental illness is a myth. I think that in todays' times the term mental illness or the label rather may be used frequently. I don't think that we should as Szasz says, equate all mental illness to an inefficiency in life. I think that the general population make the assertion of the term mentally ill with socially incompetent or functionally deficient. Szasz makes some very interesting points that are still today valid in regard to the sociological associations of mental illness in the general population. However, I think that he is very quick to make grandiose leaps from one idea to a concrete fact. He uses great examples but certain things are pathology and in accordance with the law as a means of keeping people safe. I do agree with his belief that some pathologies are created from social norms. For example, within Szasz's lifetime he saw homosexuality removed from the DSM. I think I still need to dive further into the psyche of Szasz through his work and also read some of the criticisms of his theories.