Abstract
For political reasons, the social control functions of psychiatry are not openly recognized as such but are disguised as benevolent medical treatment. The roots of this disguise may be traced to the political revolutions in which the rule of man was replaced by the rule of law. This transformation generated a conflict between the desire for freedom under law and the desire for a greater degree of social control than is provided by law. Involuntary mental hospitalization is the neurotic resolution of this conflict by society. The social control functions of psychiatry are disguised and justified by the medical model which describes the moral action of both psychiatrist and patient in the ostensibly value neutral language of science and medicine. The cost of this disguise is great. It negates individuals as moral agents and obscures the moral nature of the problems that psychiatrists seek to understand which, in turn, handicaps them in helping the persons they seek to assist. The task of the philosopher in this situation is honestly and critically to analyze and evaluate psychiatric language, psychiatric practices and the moral issues involved.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Engel, G., ‘The need for a new medical model: A challenge for biomedicine’,Science 196 (1977), 129–136.
Foucault, M.,Madness and Civilization: A History of Insanity in an Age of Reason (1961), Random House, New York, 1965.
Leifer, R., ‘Social influences on psychiatric thought’,The Pharos 30 (1966), 93–96.
Leifer, R., ‘Involuntary psychiatric commitment as a neurotic symptom’,Existential Psychiatry 6 (1967).
Leifer, R.,In the Name of Mental Health: The Social Functions of Psychiatry, Science House, New York, 1969.
Leifer, R., ‘The medical model as ideology’,International Journal of Psychiatry 9 (1970), 13–35.
Louch, A. R.,Explanation and Human Action, Univ. of California Press, Berkeley, 1966.
Mannheim, K.,Ideology and Utopia (1929), Harcourt, Brace and World, Inc., New York, 1936.
Russell, B.,Human Knowledge: Its Scope and Limits, Simon and Schuster, New York, 1948.
Ryle, G.,The Concept of Mind, Barnes and Noble, New York, 1949.
Szasz, T. S.,Pain and Pleasure: A Study of Bodily Feelings, Basic Books, New York, 1957.
Szasz, T. S.,The Myth of Mental Illness, Hoeber-Harper, New York, 1961.
Szasz, T. S.,Law, Liberty and Psychiatry, Macmillan, New York, 1963.
Szasz, T. S.,Schizophrenia, Basic Books, New York, 1976.
Winch, P.,The Idea of a Social Science, Routledge and Kegan Paul, London, 1958.
Wirth, L., Preface toIdeology and Utopia of Karl Mannheim, Harcourt, Brace and World, New York, 1936.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Leifer, R. Psychiatry, language and freedom. Metamedicine 3, 397–416 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00900940
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00900940