[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-detail-40904-en":3,"doc-seo-40904-105":29,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":90},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",{"doc_id":7,"user_id":8,"nickname":9,"user_avatar":10,"doc_module":4,"category_id":11,"category_name":12,"doc_title":13,"doc_description":14,"doc_content":15,"file_id":16,"file_url":17,"file_type":18,"file_size":19,"view_count":11,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":20,"is_downloadable":20,"audit_status":20,"page_count":21,"language":22,"language_code":23,"site_id":24,"html_lang":23,"table_of_contents":25,"faqs":26,"seo_title":13,"seo_description":14,"update_tm":27,"read_time":28},40904,962075114101,"Seraphina","https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/avatar/e000253a75eb197efd?x-image-process=image/resize,m_fixed,w_180,h_180&k=1780044092746381165",2,"Literature","The Myth of Mental Illness Foundations of a Theory of Personal Conduct","Explores whether “mental illness” constitutes a real disease category, arguing against the assumption of authority that treats behavior as medical pathology. Traces how psychiatry and public policy have shifted over time—especially the federalization and regulation of mental health care—blurring distinctions among hospitals, patient status, and private versus public practice. Reviews how professional and political power convert contested beliefs into accepted “facts,” and contrasts past public debate with later legislative and biomedical framing.","THE MYTH OF  \nMENTAL ILLNESS  \nFoundations ofa Theory of Personal Conduct  \nThomas S. Szasz, M.D.  \nContents  \nCover  \nTitle Page  \nPreface: Fifty Years After The Myth of Mental Illness  \nIntroduction  \nPart One: The Myth: of Mental Illness  \nI : GROWTH AND STRUCTURE OF THE MYTH  \n1. Charcot and the Problem of Hysteria  \n2. Illness and Counterfeit Illness  \n3. The Social Context of Medical Practice  \nII: HYSTERIA: AN EXAMPLE OF THE MYTH  \n4. Breuer and Freud’s Studies on Hysteria  \n5. Hysteria and Psychosomatic Medicine  \n6. Contemporary Views of Hysteria and Mental Illness  \nPart Two: Foundations of a Theory of Personal Conduct  \nIII: SEMIOTICAL ANALYSIS OF BEHAVIOR  \n7. Language and Protolanguage  \n8. Hysteria as Communication  \nIV: RULE-FOLLOWING ANALYSIS OF BEHAVIOR  \n9. The Rule-Following Model of Human Behavior  \n10. The Ethics of Helplessness and Helpfulness  \n11. Theology, Witchcraft, and Hysteria  \nV: GAME-MODEL ANALYSIS OF BEHAVIOR  \n12. The Game-Playing Model of Human Behavior  \n13. Hysteria as a Game  \n14. Impersonation and Illness  \n15. The Ethics of Psychiatry  \nConclusions  \nEpilogue  \nSummary  \nAppendix 1: Mental Illness Is Still a Myth  \nAppendix 2: Deɹning Disease  \nReferences Bibliography Name Index Subject Index  \nABOUT THE AUTHOR Books by Thomas S. Szasz Copyright  \nAbout the Publisher  \nPreface:  \nFifty Years After The Myth of Mental Illness  \nGood intentions will always be pleaded for every assumption of authority. It is hardly too strong to say that the Constitution was made to guard the people against the dangers of good intentions.  \n—Daniel Webster  \n1  \n“My aim in this essay is to raise the question ‘Is there such a thing as mental illness?’ and to argue that there is not.” That was the opening line of my essay “The Myth of Mental Illness,” published in the February 1960 issue of The American Psychologist. The book of the same title appeared the following year. 1  \nIn the 1950s, when I wrote The Myth of Mental Illness, the notion that it is the responsibility of the federal government to provide“health care” to the American people had not yet entered national consciousness. Most persons called mental patients were then considered “chronic” and incurable and were conɹned in state mental hospitals. The physicians who cared for them were employees of the state governments. Physicians in the private sector treated voluntary patients and were paid by their clients or the clients’ families.  \nSince that time, the formerly sharp distinctions between medical hospitals and mental hospitals, voluntary and involuntary mental patients, and private and public psychiatry have blurred into nonexistence. Virtually all medical and mental health care is now the responsibility of and is regulated by the federal government, and its cost is paid, in full or in part, by the federal government. Few, if  \nany, psychiatrists make a living from fees collected directly from patients, and none is free to contract directly with his patients about the terms of the “therapeutic contract” governing their relationship. Everyone deɹned as a “mental health professional” is now legally responsible for preventing his patient from being “dangerous to himself or others.” In short, psychiatry is medicalized, through and through. The opinion of oɽcial American psychiatry, embodied in the American Psychiatric Association, contains the imprimatur of the federal and state governments. There is no legally valid nonmedical approach to “mental illness,” just as there is no such approach to measles or melanoma.  \nThis is why, ɹfty years ago, it made sense to assert that mental illnesses are not diseases, but it makes no sense to say so today. Debate about what counts as mental illness has been replaced by legislation about the medicalization and demedicalization of behavior. Old diseases such as homosexuality and hysteria disappear, while new diseases such as gambling and smoking appear, as if to replace them.  \nFifty years ago, the question “Wha","cbCairixoeA7FeXH","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCairixoeA7FeXH","pdf",2615549,1,406,"English","en",105,"# Preface: Fifty Years After The Myth of Mental Illness\n## Introduction\n## Part One: The Myth of Mental Illness\n## Part Two: Foundations of a Theory of Personal Conduct\n## Conclusions\n## Epilogue\n## Summary","[{\"question\":\"What central question does the author raise in the book?\",\"answer\":\"The author asks whether “there is such a thing as mental illness,” and argues that there is not.\"},{\"question\":\"How does the preface describe changes in U.S. mental health care over time?\",\"answer\":\"It describes how earlier distinctions between different kinds of hospitals and treatment responsibilities have blurred, with most mental health care regulated and funded by the federal government.\"},{\"question\":\"Why does the author claim the debate over mental illness has shifted away from public discussion?\",\"answer\":\"The text argues that political power and professional self-interest have effectively “dismissed” the question by legislating mental illness as a disease like other illnesses.\"}]",1783316519,625,{"code":4,"msg":30,"data":31},"ok",{"site_id":24,"language":23,"slug":32,"title":13,"keywords":33,"description":14,"schema_data":34,"social_meta":85,"head_meta":87,"extra_data":89,"updated_unix":27},"the-myth-of-mental-illness-foundations-of-a-theory-of-personal-conduct","",{"@graph":35,"@context":84},[36,52,67],{"@type":37,"itemListElement":38},"BreadcrumbList",[39,43,46,49],{"item":40,"name":41,"@type":42,"position":20},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":44,"name":45,"@type":42,"position":11},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",{"item":47,"name":12,"@type":42,"position":48},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/literature/",3,{"item":50,"name":13,"@type":42,"position":51},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/the-myth-of-mental-illness-foundations-of-a-theory-of-personal-conduct/40904/",4,{"url":50,"name":13,"@type":53,"author":54,"headline":13,"publisher":56,"fileFormat":59,"inLanguage":23,"description":14,"dateModified":60,"datePublished":61,"encodingFormat":59,"isAccessibleForFree":62,"interactionStatistic":63},"DigitalDocument",{"name":9,"@type":55},"Person",{"url":40,"name":57,"@type":58},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-07-13","2026-07-06",true,{"@type":64,"interactionType":65,"userInteractionCount":11},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":66},"ViewAction",{"@type":68,"mainEntity":69},"FAQPage",[70,76,80],{"name":71,"@type":72,"acceptedAnswer":73},"What 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