Read the “Dig Deeper†vignette, “The Myth of Mental Illnessâ€,provided below. Do you think mental illness is a myth? Why or whynot?
DIG DEEPER: The Myth of Mental Illness In the 1950s and 1960s,the concept of mental illness was widely criticized. One of themajor criticisms focused on the notion that mental illness was a“myth that justifies psychiatric intervention in sociallydisapproved behavior†(Wakefield, 1992). Thomas Szasz (1960), anoted psychiatrist, was perhaps the biggest proponent of this view.Szasz argued that the notion of mental illness was invented bysociety (and the mental health establishment) to stigmatize andsubjugate people whose behavior violates accepted social and legalnorms. Indeed, Szasz suggested that what appear to be symptoms ofmental illness are more appropriately characterized as “problems inliving†(Szasz, 1960). In his 1961 book, The Myth of MentalIllness: Foundations of a Theory of Personal Conduct, Szaszexpressed his disdain for the concept of mental illness and for thefield of psychiatry in general (Oliver, 2006). The basis forSzasz’s attack was his contention that detectable abnormalities inbodily structures and functions (e.g., infections and organ damageor dysfunction) represent the defining features of genuine illnessor disease, and because symptoms of purported mental illness arenot accompanied by such detectable abnormalities, so calledpsychological disorders are not disorders at all. Szasz (1961/2010)proclaimed that “disease or illness can only affect the body;hence, there can be no mental illness†(p. 267). Today, werecognize the extreme level of psychological suffering experiencedby people with psychological disorders: the painful thoughts andfeelings they experience, the disordered behavior they demonstrate,and the levels of distress and impairment they exhibit. This makesit very difficult to deny the reality of mental illness. Howevercontroversial Szasz’s views and those of his supporters might havebeen, they have influenced the mental health community and societyin several ways. First, lay people, politicians, and professionalsnow often refer to mental illness as mental health “problems,â€implicitly acknowledging the “problems in living†perspective Szaszdescribed (Buchanan-Barker & Barker, 2009). Also influentialwas Szasz’s view of homosexuality. Szasz was perhaps the firstpsychiatrist to openly challenge the idea that homosexualityrepresented a form of mental illness or disease (Szasz, 1965). Bychallenging the idea that homosexuality represented a form a mentalillness, Szasz helped pave the way for the social and civil rightsthat gays and lesbians now have (Barker, 2010). His work alsoinspired legal changes that protect the rights of people inpsychiatric institutions and allow such individuals a greaterdegree of influence and responsibility over their lives.
