Coercion as Cure

Coercion as Cure PDF Author: Thomas Szasz
Publisher: Transaction Publishers
ISBN: 1412808952
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 295

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Book Description
Understanding the history of psychiatry requires an accurate view of its function and purpose. In this provocative new study, Szasz challenges conventional beliefs about psychiatry. He asserts that, in fact, psychiatrists are not concerned with the diagnosis and treatment of bona fide illnesses. Psychiatric tradition, social expectation, and the law make it clear that coercion is the profession's determining characteristic. Psychiatrists may "diagnose" or "treat" people without their consent or even against their clearly expressed wishes, and these involuntary psychiatric interventions are as different as are sexual relations between consenting adults and the sexual violence we call "rape." But the point is not merely the difference between coerced and consensual psychiatry, but to contrast them. The term "psychiatry" ought to be applied to one or the other, but not both. As long as psychiatrists and society refuse to recognize this, there can be no real psychiatric historiography. The coercive character of psychiatry was more apparent in the past than it is now. Then, insanity was synonymous with unfitness for liberty. Toward the end of the nineteenth century, a new type of psychiatric relationship developed, when people experiencing so-called "nervous symptoms," sought help. This led to a distinction between two kinds of mental diseases: neuroses and psychoses. Persons who complained about their own behavior were classified as neurotic, whereas persons about whose behavior others complained were classified as psychotic. The legal, medical, psychiatric, and social denial of this simple distinction and its far-reaching implications undergirds the house of cards that is modern psychiatry. Coercion as Cure is the most important book by Szasz since his landmark The Myth of Mental Illness.

Coercion as Cure

Coercion as Cure PDF Author: Thomas Szasz
Publisher: Transaction Publishers
ISBN: 1412808952
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 295

Get Book

Book Description
Understanding the history of psychiatry requires an accurate view of its function and purpose. In this provocative new study, Szasz challenges conventional beliefs about psychiatry. He asserts that, in fact, psychiatrists are not concerned with the diagnosis and treatment of bona fide illnesses. Psychiatric tradition, social expectation, and the law make it clear that coercion is the profession's determining characteristic. Psychiatrists may "diagnose" or "treat" people without their consent or even against their clearly expressed wishes, and these involuntary psychiatric interventions are as different as are sexual relations between consenting adults and the sexual violence we call "rape." But the point is not merely the difference between coerced and consensual psychiatry, but to contrast them. The term "psychiatry" ought to be applied to one or the other, but not both. As long as psychiatrists and society refuse to recognize this, there can be no real psychiatric historiography. The coercive character of psychiatry was more apparent in the past than it is now. Then, insanity was synonymous with unfitness for liberty. Toward the end of the nineteenth century, a new type of psychiatric relationship developed, when people experiencing so-called "nervous symptoms," sought help. This led to a distinction between two kinds of mental diseases: neuroses and psychoses. Persons who complained about their own behavior were classified as neurotic, whereas persons about whose behavior others complained were classified as psychotic. The legal, medical, psychiatric, and social denial of this simple distinction and its far-reaching implications undergirds the house of cards that is modern psychiatry. Coercion as Cure is the most important book by Szasz since his landmark The Myth of Mental Illness.

Coercion as Cure

Coercion as Cure PDF Author: Frank Villafana
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351527762
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 293

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Book Description
Understanding the history of psychiatry requires an accurate view of its function and purpose. In this provocative new study, Szasz challenges conventional beliefs about psychiatry. He asserts that, in fact, psychiatrists are not concerned with the diagnosis and treatment of bona fide illnesses. Psychiatric tradition, social expectation, and the law make it clear that coercion is the profession's determining characteristic. Psychiatrists may "diagnose" or "treat" people without their consent or even against their clearly expressed wishes, and these involuntary psychiatric interventions are as different as are sexual relations between consenting adults and the sexual violence we call "rape." But the point is not merely the difference between coerced and consensual psychiatry, but to contrast them. The term "psychiatry" ought to be applied to one or the other, but not both. As long as psychiatrists and society refuse to recognize this, there can be no real psychiatric historiography. The coercive character of psychiatry was more apparent in the past than it is now. Then, insanity was synonymous with unfitness for liberty. Toward the end of the nineteenth century, a new type of psychiatric relationship developed, when people experiencing so-called "nervous symptoms," sought help. This led to a distinction between two kinds of mental diseases: neuroses and psychoses. Persons who complained about their own behavior were classified as neurotic, whereas persons about whose behavior others complained were classified as psychotic. The legal, medical, psychiatric, and social denial of this simple distinction and its far-reaching implications undergirds the house of cards that is modern psychiatry. Coercion as Cure is the most important book by Szasz since his landmark The Myth of Mental Illness.

Forced Into Treatment

Forced Into Treatment PDF Author: Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry. Committee on Government Policy
Publisher: American Psychiatric Pub
ISBN: 9780873182058
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 164

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Book Description
What role does coercion play in psychiatric treatment? Does it increase or decrease the chances for successful outcome? Forced Into Treatment discusses various aspects of coercion ranging from the role of coercion in initiation psychiatric treatment to its effect on treatment process and outcome. The book demonstrated that a patient who is appropriately forced into treatment can more from initial defiance, through reluctant compliance, to a successful therapeutic alliance and a successful outcome. In addition, Forced Into Treatment addresses the role of coercion, power, and authority in socializing children the use of coercive social pressure as a motivation to seek help the effects of court-ordered treatment for people who have refused psychiatric help the historical and legal aspects regarding coercive treatment

Coercion and Aggressive Community Treatment

Coercion and Aggressive Community Treatment PDF Author: Deborah L. Dennis
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 0306451670
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 222

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Book Description
Forced hospitalization of people with mental disorders has long been a critical issue in the mental health services. Coercion and Aggressive Community Treatment is the first sustained description and analysis of what happens when `aggressive' treatment becomes `coerced' treatment. Mental health professionals poignantly discuss the tension they feel between wanting to do everything to treat desperately ill people and the need to respect the rights of these same people who want to make their own decisions, even if this means forgoing treatment.

Liberation by Oppression

Liberation by Oppression PDF Author: Thomas Szasz
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351508776
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 254

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Book Description
Originally called mad-doctoring, psychiatry began in the seventeenth century with the establishing of madhouses and the legal empowering of doctors to incarcerate persons denominated as insane. Until the end of the nineteenth century, every relationship between psychiatrist and patient was based on domination and coercion, as between master and slave. Psychiatry, its emblem the state mental hospital, was a part of the public sphere, the sphere of coercion.The advent of private psychotherapy, at the end of the nineteenth century, split psychiatry in two: some patients continued to be the involuntary inmates of state hospitals; others became the voluntary patients of privately practicing psychotherapists. Psychotherapy was officially defined as a type of medical treatment, but actually was a secular-medical version of the cure of souls. Relationships between therapist and patient, Thomas Szasz argues, was based on cooperation and contract, as is relationships between employer and employee, or, between clergyman and parishioner. Psychotherapy, its emblem the therapist's office, was a part of the private sphere, the contract.Through most of the twentieth century, psychiatry was a house divided-half-slave, and half-free. During the past few decades, psychiatry became united again: all relations between psychiatrists and patients, regardless of the nature of the interaction between them, are now based on actual or potential coercion. This situation is the result of two major ""reforms"" that deprive therapist and patient alike of the freedom to contract with one another: Therapists now have a double duty: they must protect all mental patients-involuntary and voluntary, hospitalized or outpatient, incompetent or competent-from themselves. They must also protect the public from all patients.Persons designated as mental patients may be exempted from responsibility for the deleterious consequences of their own behavior if it is attributed to mental illne

The Myth of Mental Illness

The Myth of Mental Illness PDF Author: Thomas S. Szasz
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 0062104748
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 436

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Book Description
“The landmark book that argued that psychiatry consistently expands its definition of mental illness to impose its authority over moral and cultural conflict.” — New York Times The 50th anniversary edition of the most influential critique of psychiatry every written, with a new preface on the age of Prozac and Ritalin and the rise of designer drugs, plus two bonus essays. Thomas Szasz's classic book revolutionized thinking about the nature of the psychiatric profession and the moral implications of its practices. By diagnosing unwanted behavior as mental illness, psychiatrists, Szasz argues, absolve individuals of responsibility for their actions and instead blame their alleged illness. He also critiques Freudian psychology as a pseudoscience and warns against the dangerous overreach of psychiatry into all aspects of modern life.

The Medicalization of Everyday Life

The Medicalization of Everyday Life PDF Author: Thomas Szasz
Publisher: Syracuse University Press
ISBN: 9780815608677
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 236

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Book Description
This collection of impassioned essays, published between 1973 and 2006, chronicles Thomas Szasz’s long campaign against the orthodoxies of “pharmacracy,” that is, the alliance of medicine and the state. From “Diagnoses Are Not Diseases” to “The Existential Identity Thief,” “Fatal Temptation,” and “Killing as Therapy,” the book delves into the complex evolution of medicalization, concluding with “Pharmacracy: The New Despotism.” In practice, society must draw a line between what counts as medical practice and what does not. Where it draws that line goes far in defining the kinds of laws its citizens live under, the kinds of medical care they receive, and the kinds of lives they are allowed to live.

Resisting 12-step Coercion

Resisting 12-step Coercion PDF Author: Stanton Peele
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781884365171
Category : Alcoholics
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Every year, over one million Americans are coerced into 12-step treatments. Peele, a psychologist, attorney, and outspoken critic of the addiction treatment industry, provides intellectual, practical, and scientific background for lay people and professionals to fight against coerced referrals to 12-step addiction treatment and groups. He refutes the disease concept of alcoholism and addiction, describes ways people are coerced into treatment, analyzes evidence for the effectiveness of 12-step treatment, and looks at alternativesAnnotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR.

Coercive Treatment in Psychiatry

Coercive Treatment in Psychiatry PDF Author: Thomas W. Kallert
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 0470978651
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 350

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Book Description
Coercion is one of the most fascinating and controversial subjects in psychiatry. It is a highly sensitive, and hotly debated topic in which clinical practice, ethics, the law and public policy converge. This book considers coercion within the healing and ethical framework of therapeutic relationships and partnerships at all levels, and addresses the universal problem of how to balance safety versus autonomy when dealing with psychiatric treatment. Coercive Treatment in Psychiatry is a much needed contribution to the literature. The first three sections deal with the conceptual and clinical aspects of coercive treatment, the legal aspects and the ethical aspects of coercive treatment. In detail, these sections cover a broad spectrum of issues: coercion in institutions and in the community, coercive treatment and stigma, the definition of best practice standards for coercive treatment, de-escalation of risk situations, recent developments in mental health legislation, mental health care and patients' rights, cross-cultural perspectives on coercive treatment, historical injustice in psychiatry, and paternalism in mental health. The fourth section features users' views on coercive treatment: giving voice to an often-unheeded population. Finally, the book addresses the original topic of coercion and undue influence in decisions to participate in psychiatric research. This book presents the first comprehensive review of the issue of coercion in psychiatry. With chapters written by the leading experts in the field, many of whom are renowned as clear thinkers and experienced clinicians, it may be seen as a starting point for international discussions and initiatives in this field aiming to minimize coercion. Highly Commended in the Psychiatry section of the 2012 BMA Book Awards.

The Use of Coercive Measures in Forensic Psychiatric Care

The Use of Coercive Measures in Forensic Psychiatric Care PDF Author: Birgit Völlm
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319267485
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 331

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Book Description
This book presents the legal context and describes the ethical and practical challenges when using coercive measures in forensic psychiatric settings. A wide range of aspects relevant to the use of such measures, including environmental, patient-related, and staff-related factors, are explored, and the experience of coercive interventions is described from the staff and the patient perspective. Differences in jurisdictions and examples of good practice are highlighted. The authors are from a range of professional backgrounds, ensuring breadth as well as depth in discussion of the topic. The use of coercive measures, in particular restraint, seclusion, and involuntary medication, for the control of aggression in psychiatry remains controversial. Forensic mental health care deals with individuals who pose a risk to others and often present with significant management problems within institutions. The care of patients in these settings gives rise to debates about the balance between care and safety, and between the interests of the patients and those of the wider society to be protected. Despite these tensions, limited research has been conducted specifically on the use of coercive measures in forensic mental health care. This volume aims to fill the gap and will be of value to all professionals working in forensic psychiatric settings as well as to those working in general psychiatric and custodial settings, law professionals, and patients.