SOCI 377 Chapter Notes -Social Constructionism, Human Potential Movement, Paraplegia
4 Nov 2012
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The myth of mental illness, thomas s. szasz. Today mental illness is widely regarded as the cause of innumerable diverse happenings (similar to such explanatory concepts as deities and witches, etc) Goal: describe the main uses to which the concept of mental illness has been put, argue that it has outlived it s usefulness and that it now functions merely as a convenient truth. Mental illness as a sign of brain disease. If mental illness is a sign of brain disease this implies that people cannot have troubles from anything but disease. All problems in living are attributed to physiochemical processes. Mental illnesses are thus regarded as basically no different than all other diseases. Mental symptoms definition: a patient s communications about himself, others, and the world about him. Sum: what they mean is that people labeled as mentally ill suffer from diseases of the brain and it would be clearer if they said that instead.
