Mental illness is indeed a myth
In Psychiatry as Cognitive Neuroscience (2009)
| Abstract | This chapter offers a novel defence of Szasz’s claim that mental illness is a myth by bringing to bear a standard type of thought experiment used in philosophical discussions of the meaning of natural kind concepts. This makes it possible to accept Szasz’s conclusion that mental illness involves problems of living, some of which may be moral in nature, while bypassing the debate about the meaning of the concept of illness. The chapter then considers the nature of schizophrenia and the personality disorders (PDs) within this framework. It argues that neither is likely to constitute a scientifically valid category, but that nonetheless their symptoms can be scientifically explained. It concludes with a discussion of the way in which Cluster B or ‘bad’ PDs involve failures of virtue or character, and argues that this does not preclude them from being appropriately treated within contemporary, multidisciplinary, mental health services. | |||||||||
| Keywords | No keywords specified (fix it) | |||||||||
| Categories | ||||||||||
| Options |
|
|||||||||
Download options| PhilPapers Archive |
Upload a copy of this paper Check publisher's policy on self-archival Papers currently archived: 5,631 |
| External links |
  Try with proxy. |
| Through your library | Configure |
Similar books and articlesMichael S. Moore (1975). Some Myths About 'Mental Illness'. Inquiry 18 (3):233 – 265.
Thomas Stephen Szasz (1974). The Myth of Mental Illness: Foundations of a Theory of Personal Conduct. New York,Harper & Row.
Rem B. Edwards (1981). Mental Health as Rational Autonomy. Journal of Medicine and Philosophy 6 (3):309-322.
David Papineau (1994). Mental Disorder, Illness and Biological Disfunction. Philosophy 37:73-82.
Valeria Lelli (2011). The Body Language: A Semiotic Reading of Szasz’ Anti-Psychiatry. Dialogues in Philosophy, Mental and Neuro Sciences 4 (2):34-36.
Martin Roth (1986). The Reality of Mental Illness. Cambridge University Press.
Timothy Murphy (1982). Differential Diagnosis and Mental Illness. Journal of Medicine and Philosophy 7 (4):327-336.
Neil Pickering (2006). The Metaphor of Mental Illness. Oxford University Press.
Mark Cresswell (2008). Szasz and His Interlocutors: Reconsidering Thomas Szasz's "Myth of Mental Illness" Thesis. Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour 38 (1):23–44.
David Michael Levin (1976). II. The Concept of Mental Illness: Working Through the Myths. Inquiry 19 (1-4):360-365.
Francis Golffing (1963). Book Review:The Myth of Mental Illness. Thomas S. Szasz. [REVIEW] Ethics 73 (2):145-.
Robert L. Woolfolk (1999). Malfunction and Mental Illness. The Monist 82 (4):658-670.
Christopher Ryan (2011). One Flu Over The Cuckoo's Nest: Comparing Legislated Coercive Treatment for Mental Illness with That for Other Illness. Journal of Bioethical Inquiry 8 (1):87-93.
Derek Bolton (1996). Mind, Meaning, and Mental Disorder: The Nature of Causal Explanation in Psychology and Psychiatry. Oxford University Press.
Tim Thornton (2000). Mental Illness and Reductionism: Can Functions Be Naturalized? Philosophy Psychiatry and Psychology 9:229-253.
Analytics
Monthly downloads |
Added to index2010-12-22Total downloads34 ( #35,263 of 548,972 )Recent downloads (6 months)3 ( #25,799 of 548,972 )How can I increase my downloads? |
My notes
Discussion
