Table Of Contentrsonal Ci hes
PSYCHOLOGY
THE MYTH OF MENTAL ILLNESS
Foandatines ofa Thoors of Prsinal Conduct
‘Thomas 8. Szasz, M.D.
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FEVEXEIA
Harber Row Pairs
omerey
ot AWA tlt,
‘The Myth of Mental Utness
Books by Thomas 8. ase
Prin and Pleasure
“The Mah of Mental Mess
Law, Liber, aad Psyehiaey
‘The Ethics of Peychoanalysis
‘eychiatrc Tstce
deslogy and Insanity
‘The Manufacture of Moviness
“The Second Sia
‘The Age of Madnen (Editor)
THE MYTH OF
MENTAL ILLNESS
Foundations of a Theory of Personal Condtect
by Thomas S. Szasz, M.D.
REVISED EDITION
ir
PEREWN (ar CNEERY
a =
FARSOKLL CONDE (Revised Edition) Copyright © 1524 by
“Thomas 8, Szase, M.D. All ight renerved. Pinta inthe United
‘State of America, No part of tht book may be used oF repo
Goced fa any manner without written pertieion except Sa the
(aus of brief quotations ambodied In critica artisiee and reviews.
For information abreu Harper & Row, Publishers, Jc, 10 East
‘580 Stet, New Vork, N.Y, 10022, Publabed simatancously
‘Crueda by Fltsheary & Whites Limited, Torooto.
lest wane raPeRnack edition published 1974,
1s oF n6-D9LISL-4
bun RD 302928272605 2423
Contents
Preface tothe Secemd Fdition
Preface othe Prst Edition
Introduction
Part One
The Myth of Mental liness
‘Chareot and the Problem of Hysteria
2. Ulness and Coumretet Hinese
‘The Soctal Context uf Medical Prasice
Brover ant Freud's Sudieson Haeria
ijnteria and Pyychosomatic Medicine
6, Comtemparary Views of Hysteria and Mena Hlsess
orto
Part Two
Foundations of a Theory of Personal Conduct
1, SEMIGTICAL ANALYSIS OF BEKAVIOR
77. anguage and Protolangusge
8, Hysteria as Communication
1, RELE-FOLLOWING ANALYSIS OF BERAVIOR
9. The Rule-Following Model of Hom ichavior
10. The Ethie of Tedpfessess and Helpless
U1, Theology, Witcher, and Hysteria
12, The Game Playing Model of Hus Behavior
13, Hysteria aga Game
14, Tapersouation and Winess
15, The Bthies af Paycaiatry
Conclusions
Epilogue
Summary
References
Bibliogy=phy
Tndex
ot
Bs
4a
162
18
199
13
cea
20
26,
268
267
269
281
21
Preface to the Second Edition
Every book is, incvkably, part autobiography, I started ta
‘work on this boak in 1984, when, having beer called o aetive
duty 0 the Naty, I was relieve of the burdens of a full-tne
Poychaanalytic practi and could warn my eoeegis to puting
‘on paper something af what Dad long been on my mind, The
first publisher w s-hom L submitted the manuscript, in 1957 of
1458 1 think, deliberated about it at length and then rejected
it 1 next seat ico Mr. Paul Becher, then the dicectar af che
redies| division of Tarper & Brathers (now Harper & Raw
Publishers), t0 who T am grateful for publisbing a work
which, especialy then, ast have seemed to flyin te face of
nearly everything that was known about psychiatry and psy
choanalysis
Within @ year ofits publication, the Connisioner of the
[New York State Depattineat of Menult Hygiene demanded, ia
4 leter citing specifically The Dfyth of Mental tues, tbat be
dismissed ftom my university postion Because T uid net “be-
Jove” ja ental less. Nelther the details of that affair nor
le utter consequences of say publishing this honk belong is
this Preface. Sufice it to say that uch hus happened to me
since. And sauch, ia par perhaps because of the book, has
bhuppened to peychiary als,
Pralace tothe Seeone Edition vil
Obviously, thee, were 1 to write this book say, T would
write it difsready. Bul Tam, on the whole, still quite stifled
with the ovginad work. However, he original version of The
Myth of Steotat Aires now appears to we tou detailed in the
evelopment af is thesis, everdacumented in its citations, and
offen couched ia unnevesarily techaicat language. T have
decided, therefore, thal for this socnnd sition £ would slim
rte everyting that dues not bear dircetly ou its main themes,
reduce the documentation, and reverie the tnt, were neces
sry, in mote staightlorward English prose. Al the same tan,
T have rejected the temptation to bring the azguments up t0
date or © add any’ significant new mattiat—except for this
Preface and a brief Summoury—pardy bovanse, once begun,
such rewrising would bave been diffeut to contol, and partly
beaut, in soverat of my buoks published since 1961, T have
elaborated on the ideas ist presented here?
‘The prublems to whieh 1 address myself in this Book sre
‘ey 10 stale but, because of the powerful cultural and eso
otic pressures tha define the “ooetect™aaswers to them, are
dificult to easify. They have 49 de with suck questions as
‘What is disease? What are the ostensible and acteat asks uf
the physiciaa? Whal is mental ilies? Who defines what con
silules nes, diagnosis, reatment? Wha control The vocabue
fry of medicine. and peychintry, und the powers af (he
pbysician-psychiutrist and eiizenpaieat? Har a porcon the
Fight (call himself sick? Hise a physicina the zigh to call a
‘person mentally sick? What isthe eiference betwen & person
complaining of paia and calling himself sick? Or betweed a
physician complaining of a persuu's rsbehavinr and. calling
Iie a mentally sick pationc? Without attempling to answer
these questions or trying to anticipate the contents of this
‘honk, ler me show brielly the srt of reasoning ring (034
‘eis impossible to undertake an anulysin of the concept of
mental illoess without rt coming 1 grips with the concept of
‘ordinary or bodily ness. What do we mean when we say that
