The Myth of Mental Illness

Abstract

Sharp-witted, knowledgeable, and intellectual, Dr. Szasz launches a blistering attack upon the words and concepts that psychiatrists use. He describes his first task as the presentation of "an essentially 'destructive' analysis of the concept of mental illness and of psychiatry as a pseudomedical enterprise." His second task he describes as "to offer a 'constructive' synthesis of the knowledge which I have found useful for filling the gap left by the myth of mental illness." Unfortunately, it is not quite clear to whom this book is addressed. Mental illness is not a myth to those who have experienced it. It can only be a myth for those with inadequate experience and understanding. This presumably is the audience for whom the volume is written. Dr. Szasz's contention that the myth of mental illness should be abandoned is more appropriate for the psychoneuroses and personality disorders. It is unfortunate that he has not