E. Fuller Torrey, MD, SURVIVING SCHIZOPHRENIA: A MANUAL FOR FAMILIES, CONSUMERS [!], AND PROVIDERS, writes: "Szasz has produced more erudite nonsense on the subject of serious mental illness than any writer alive. As a historian Szasz is first class, but as a psychiatrist he never moved beyond a strictly psychoanalytic approach to treating schizophrenia. He argues, for example, that schizophrenia is merely a creation of psychiatry and "if there is no psychiatry there can be no schizophrenia." What wonderful simplicity! One wonders whether he has ever seen a patient with the disease." (p. 431; see also p. 171)
BTW, Torrey -- who is clearly very knowledgeable on this subject -- also presents evidence that indicates that "insight-oriented psychotherapy" (which includes psychoanalysis) actually makes schizophrenia worse (p. 203f).
My experience with my son, who has ADD, Asperger's syndrome, and (maybe) psychosis, indicates that there's _no way_ that mental illness is merely a verbal construct created by psychiatrists.
Jim D
-------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: application/ms-tnef Size: 4378 bytes Desc: not available URL: <../attachments/20031230/7159166e/attachment.bin>