Posted by Jost on October 1, 2006, at 1:33:14
In reply to Re: now that's an interesting coincidence, posted by alexandra_k on September 29, 2006, at 1:14:28
Not in my book.
There was an interesting series of articles way way way back in the New Yorker by Susan Sheehan about a woman who was psychotic and the story of her life and comings and goings in mental hospitals and group homes, breakdowns, and reassemblies. It was pretty gripping.
I came across a reference to it in recent searches online.
It pretty well destroyed the mystique built up around mental illness by Lang and Robert Lifton and others in the era when it was seen as a type of freedom from convention and the constraints of "normality."
A choice? Who would choose to live with that sort of pain?
No, I can't accept that.
By the way, why does the person play that "game" to "get help" Szasz? Why does the person "need" help-- or do they not need and only want it? If they need it, how is it a choice? Need and choice don't go together.
Anyway, while Szasz gives a critique that shows some assumptions, and forces them to be deepened, I don't think he's right that mental illness is not a disease, even if it's a very special type of disease, and even if some of the symptoms partake in areas of life that we also consider to invoke spiritual or philosophical questions.
Jost
poster:Jost
thread:689710
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20060926/msgs/690721.html