Thomas Szasz Analysis

Mental illnesses have a high prevalence amongst the United States population. Each year, tens of millions of individuals suffer and are affected by mental illnesses (National Institute of Mental Health, 1). These illnesses range from anxiety disorder, eating disorders, major depression, personality disorder, and many more. Yet, with the existing knowledge, mental providers and professionals, and the DSM-5, mental illness remains a growing mystery to the public. Literature has played a significant role in how mental illnesses are defined, their characteristics, and the portrayal of those who are mentally ill to the public eye. From memoirs on mental illness such as Susanna Kaysen 's Girl, Interrupted to Daphne 's Scholinksi 's The Last Time I

Mental illness has been around since the days of recorded history. People such as Aristotle, Thomas Overbury, and Jean de la Bruyere have studied the personality disorders. However, through history, people with personality disorders have been shunned and feared because of who they are.

The issues of mental illness have been around from the start of human existence. Mental illness is considered any psychiatric disorder that cause untypical behavior. Questioning happened more in the 1930’s when more problems came around and how to fix it began to arise. Mental illness included the diseases, the cures,

Anxiety disorders: People with anxiety disorders respond to certain objects or situations with fear and dread, as well as with physical signs of anxiety or panic, such as a rapid heartbeat and sweating. An anxiety disorder is diagnosed if the person's response is not appropriate for the situation, if the person cannot control the response, or if the anxiety interferes with normal functioning. Anxiety disorders include generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, social anxiety disorder, and specific phobias.

In the editorial "The health crisis of mental health stigma," the editorial utilizes ethos pathos, and logos, to shed light on the crisis of mental health. According to the editorial mental health is not seen as a significant health issue as others are. This issue is overlooked by many peoples and doctors. The two strongest rhetorical appeals that this editorial uses and applies very well are ethical appeal and logical appeal. Also, manages to include an emotional appeal.

Without historical context, it is harder to understand why the narrators’ disorders devolve to induce such maniacal behavior. In the nineteenth century, the majority of “treatment” for mental disorders amounted to sticking victims in an insane asylum. Researchers still

The articles The Myth of Mental Illness and Road Rage: Recognizing a Psychological Disorder addressed the issue of mental illness in two completely different contexts. Both authors agreed that societal context plays a large role in classifying what is “mental illness”. In The Myth of Mental Illness, Thomas S. Szasz was critical and sceptical of the definition of mental illness. Mental illness was defined as a deviation in behaviour from psychological, ethical or legal norms. He then proceeded to ask the reader, “Who defines the norms and hence the deviation?” He claimed that it is the society that decides what is considered as the norm, implying the significance of society in the classification of mental illness. In Road Rage: Recognizing a

The year is 1615 in Colonial America. Colonists face several different problems: war with natives, rivalry with Spain, inability to adapt to the new climate...and, for Colonists suffering from a mental illness, there was the very real fear of being killed or thrown out into the wild. During this time period (and for many thousands of years before), the explanation for mental illness was simple--clearly a demon had possessed their soul(Leupo). As time progressed, stigmas around mental illness progressed as well. Sometimes for the better, sometimes not so much. Nowadays, while most scholars agree that treatment has drastically improved, there is heated debate over what rights mentally ill persons can and should hold. Such rights include the enforcement of unwanted treatment,

Greene and Lee (2002) states that when considering the social constructivist approach an understanding of the way individuals function within society is important to appreciate the meaning they ascribe to their experiences of society and culture. Dean (1993 suggests that knowledge and meaning are created and influenced by institutions within the environment. From this individual suffering from mental illness will create their reality and will then view future experiences through this (Dewees, 1999)

Mental illness is an important topic that is rarely spoken or taught in today’s society. About half of people in the world have a mental health disorder, yet most people don’t know what it really means to have a serious health problem. There are numerous theories on why these disorders happen; additionally, some disorders in the world are still a mystery to the science community and also millions of people share these personal experiences through writing.

For ages, mental illness has been depicted as a misconception among society. Naturally for human beings’ noticing something noticeably odd can cause judgement towards the individual. Most common misconceptions are set on a

Before the eighteenth century, mental illness was thought to be a problem spiritually. Whenever people started acting weird ,they were thought to be wracked with sin or even possessed by demons (“The Asylum Movement”, 1997). One woman, Dorothea Dix, became a reformer for mentally ill patients. Dix was not alone, however. In addition, a woman named Nellie Bly, a journalist, also helped show the inhumane treatments of the mentally ill. Finally, they could not have had their success without stories like that of Rhoda Derry, a patient. The Asylum Movement would have never begun if it was not for the handiwork of Dorothea Dix, Nellie Bly, and Rhoda Derry.

The history behind mental health has had a major impact on today’s society, how the legislations and policies have been reformed over the centuries. Treatment and social standards have also change dramatically; in 1247 the first Bethlem Royal Hospital was built in London. This hospital was originally built to collect money; food etc for the Crusader Church, this building was used as a church for a hundred years. (Andrews, J, 1997)

Is a person the only controller of his or her thoughts and actions? Can a person be truly possessed and robbed out of his or her control over his or her own actions? Possession as a term can be defined as the takeover or owning of something. Demons are the spiritual creatures that are said to exist and live with us. Collectively the term demonic possession means the takeover of someone’s body, mind, or actions by a spirit or demon. Whether a person could be possessed or not has been an argumentative topic for decades among all people from various cultures. The different occurrences that are attributed to the control of demons make the credibility of demonic possession questioned. In the past and throughout history, multiple events were attributed to or described as the work of demons and

Mental disorders are commonly misconceived as Wyatt Fisher, a Colorado-based licensed psychologist implied in an interview with The Cheat Sheet; “People tend to view mental illness as a sign of weakness that people should just be able to ‘get over’, and many view it as a title given to those who are just ‘crazy’”. At one point mental health was a