Tuesday, January 31, 2006

 

The Therapeutic State

Thomas Szasz is a very interesting person. He has written many books, including the "Myth of Mental Illness" and "Fatal Freedom: The Ethics and Politics of Suicide" and "The Therapeutic State".

What do you think about the War on Drugs? Involuntary Therapy? The alliance between the State and psychiatry (along with other medical professions)? The role of the State as the pill-pusher? The monopoly on "allowing" the sale of drugs?

Here is an interview and background info on Szasz?

Comments:
Wow, what a deluded man. Unless one has a 'mental illness', they are in no way qualified to speak on the subject and all their comments are suppositions, assumptions, and dangerous inacurate statements. They are unquestionably full of shit and have no right to demean or disqualify others that are suffering. I don't care what you call the illness, someone who is suffering needs support and compassion, period. I on the other hand, quite humbly but authentically can speak to the issue with a great depth and experience. Schizophrenia, a brain disorder that manifests through many symptoms, is a medical pathology, that contrary to Szasz's statement has been well defined but poorly understood about how to treat the illness. While for some the observation that the state is involved in coercion of the 'mentally ill' and use it to control the 'undesirables', there is a grain of truth. But unless you have suffered the symptoms of mental illness, you have no qualification whatsoever to speak on the issue, and I will not contribute to this string of posts unless the people who contribute either have a mental illness/disorder or have a close friend or relative who is afflicted. Mental illness is very real and has no boundries of class, culture, or similiarity of symptoms. The difference lies in the culture's support or ignorance of these issues, and unfotunately most people rely on myths instead of trying to find the truth. I think it is equivalent to to saying 'the really was not a Jewish holocost in hitler's Germany,' or the conspiracy theory that the world is really flat. Again, unless someone person has experience with the issue, I will not write again on this subject.
Qotsaisaw
 
I have not experienced killing, but am fully qualified to speak about it an philosophically pick at it.

I have yet to experience death, but I can qualify my understanding and debate its finality.

None of us have experienced Anarchy, yet we are all fully qualified to discuss it.

Szasz's point is against coercion, especially a State-based coercion that conveniently makes its non-sociable individuals into criminals. It is the same way with the use of Ritalin in schools to mandate further compliance.
 
Yeah anyone can philosophize about anything. We speculate about many things, all the time, that haven't taken place or are just theories until they happen. And the falicy of logic and the human ego can rationalize almost anything it wants. But quite simply, direct experience and knowledge trumps your assumptions speculation every time: you don't know what it is to live with a chronic illness your whole life if you haven't lived with a chronic illness your whole life.
Qotsaisaw
 
Drugs should be legal. Victimless crimes are silly.

Mental illness is silly. Here is discussion of it I was in:

http://www.settingtheworldtorights.com/node/438

http://www.settingtheworldtorights.com/node/498
 
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