|
||||
| Home | Introduction | Szasz Materials | Debates | Links/Related Items |
|
|
||||
The following emails were written by Cathy Young, contributing editor, REASON Magazine, and are reprinted here on the Szasz site by permission of Cathy Young:
From: CathyYoung2@cs.com
To: daherman@suffolk.lib.ny.us
Date: Sat, 17 Mar 2001 13:35:17 EST
Subject: Re: "Medicalizing Childhood"
"I am familiar with Dr. Szasz's work, and frankly I think that his extreme position can only undermine a reasonable critique of the overexpansion of the mental health industry. The assertion that mental illness is a "myth" seems to me so out of touch with reality (at least to anyone who has ever known a mentally ill person, as I have) as to merit no discussion. Ironically for champions of reason, the only real justification for such a position would be to argue that there is no such thing as objective reality, and that therefore, a person who believes that all his relatives and neighbors are pod people from outer space intent on stealing his brain for biological experiments is simply a person with an unusual point of view.
Regards,
Cathy Young"
From: CathyYoung2@cs.com
"Dear Dr. Greening:
I'm sure we could go back and forth about this for a long time, but there are
cases in which I think one should simply go with common sense. Some years
ago, I happened to live next door to a mentally ill man (a neighbor's son) whom I occasionally saw outside waving his arms and obviously trying toward off invisible assailants. When anyone passed him by on the stairs he would either run and hide or flatten himself against the wall as if trying to become invisible, with a look of terror on his face. It seemed very obvious that this man was in agony (not to mention that he had all of his neighbors terrified -- a man who thinks everyone is trying to attack him is liable to decide to fight back one day). If there is an effective treatment that can help a person in such a condition, it seems downright cruel to me to withhold such treatment in the name of an abstract ideology.
Regards,
To: tgreening@saybrook.edu
CC: daherman@suffolk.lib.ny.us
Date: Sat, 17 Mar 2001 14:52:11 EST
Subject: Re: "Mental illness" as metaphor, vs. brain disease
Cathy Young"
"In my view, involuntary hospitalization is sometimes clearly the most compassionate solution. (A look at mentally ill, or if you prefer, "troubled" street people certainly seems to confirm that.) I believe I am strongly committed to the principle of individual liberty, but there are two groups of people who constitute an exception to the general principle:
children and the insane. (And just because, at various times in our history other groups -- including women -- were also considered unfit for self-government does not invalidate this argument.) I don't know why you consider the label of "illness" so objectionable; is demonic possession a better metaphor? Incidentally, several years ago, I spoke to a former Soviet dissident who at one point was forcibly committed to a psychiatric hospital for his political beliefs -- which, as you probably know, was fairly common in the former
USSR-- and had some horrendous experiences (at one point he was drugged to
the point of losing the ability to form a complete sentence). When I asked
him what he thought of the idea that the concept of mental illness is merely a myth and an instrument of social control, he said that he found this idea laughable - particularly having spent a lot of time around of people who really were mentally ill. (And please don't tell me that he was simply trying to prove to himself that he wasn't 'like the others.')"
"I have read some of Dr. Szasz's work --including, I believe, 'The Curing of the Therapeutic State' -- and I think some of his critique of therapeutic coercion and of the medicalization of human behavior is quite persuasive. However, as I think I said in a previous post, I think that this critique is undercut by the extreme "myth of mental illness" position he takes." (March 17, 2001)
Sun, 18 Mar 2001 09:40:56 EST
"By the way, the explanation that the hallucinatory visions and delusions of people who are commonly considered mentally ill are not actual hallucinations or delusions but mere "metaphors" seems to me like a clear case of grasping for straws (or looking for an impossibly complex explanation rather than accept the obvious simple one). Particularly so since such people's behavior often strongly suggests that these visions and delusions are anything but metaphorical to them -- whether it's screaming and running in terror
from an imaginary demon, or refusing to eat for fear that the food is poisoned."
From: CathyYoung2@cs.com
To: daherman@suffolk.lib.ny.us
Abstract:
One could argue that the real problem lies in the inadequacy of resources
for mental health services, or the societal prejudices that subvert treatment
([Anna Quindlen] makes much of the fact that [Kip Kinkel]'s father disapproved of his therapy). But one could also admit that mental health treatment is no more of a "vaccine" against school shootings than, say, school prayer. There is no single vaccine against tragedy.
The call for expanded mental health intervention for children is part of a larger campaign directed at all Americans. In 1999, the US Surgeon General's office released a report on mental health which claimed that nearly one in four Americans - 22 percent - suffer from a diagnosable mental disorder and lamented that two-thirds of those affected do not seek treatment. If the numbers of sufferers seem staggeringly high, it's because mental illness has been defined down to include narcissism, excessive devotion to work, crankiness, attention-seeking, and the like.
Copyright Boston Globe Newspaper Mar 14, 2001
Full Text:
CATHY YOUNG
EVERY TIME ANOTHER MIDDLE-CLASS SCHOOL BECOMES THE SITE OF YET ANOTHER DEADLY SHOOTING SPREE, THERE IS A RUSH TO FIND LARGER SOCIAL ILLS TO BLAME. ONE INCREASINGLY POPULAR TARGET IS SOCIETY'S FAILURE TO ADDRESS MENTAL ILLNESS. BUT IS THIS JUST ANOTHER ATTEMPT TO FIND A SIMPLE ANSWER TO A BAFFLING PROBLEM?
Serious mental illness, according to experts and pundits, is rampant among America's children and adolescents, striking as many as one in five before they reach adulthood. Yet, we are told, most of it remains undiagnosed and untreated - all because of antiquated cultural attitudes that stigmatize such afflictions and label sick youngsters as
"bad" or weak.
The call for expanded mental health intervention for children is part of a larger campaign directed at all Americans. In 1999, the US Surgeon General's office released a report on mental health which claimed that nearly one in four Americans - 22 percent - suffer from a diagnosable mental disorder and lamented that two-thirds of those affected do not
seek treatment. If the numbers of sufferers seem staggeringly high, it's because mental illness has been defined down to include narcissism, excessive devotion to work, crankiness, attention-seeking, and the like.
In 1952, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association listed 60 diagnosable disorders; now, it has well over 300. Often, a fuzzy line separates these disorders from ordinary personality traits. One survey determined the prevalence of social phobia (shyness) by asking respondents if they thought they were more nervous than others at social gatherings and if this bothered them. The trouble is, this
approach essentially reduces the human condition to a clinical condition, leaving no room for such stodgy notions as character or human spirit - or for deviations from a rather rigid norm of mental health.
According to the Surgeon General's report, grief over the loss of a loved one makes you a candidate for treatment if it lasts more than two months. This evokes shades of Aldous Huxley's dystopia, "Brave New World," where unpleasant emotions are medicated away. The other danger is promoting treatments of dubious value.
As science writer John Horgan argues in his 1999 book, "The Undiscovered Mind: How the Human Brain Defies Replication, Medication, and Explanation," science still knows little about treating mental distress. The field of psychotherapy is rife with quackery (consider "recovered memory therapy," which encouraged thousands to believe falsely they had been sexually abused by parents). Highly touted drugs such as Prozac fail to help as many as half of patients and offer only temporary relief to others.
While some people want to bring more children into the mental health system, others worry that far too many are being steered into it for no good reason. In Horgan's view, "we've already gone too far in medicalizing childhood."
He points out that millions of children are being diagnosed with such conditions as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and that children under 18 comprise the fastest-growing market for Prozac and other anti-depressants, even though little is known about these drugs' effects on children.
"Kids need all the love and compassion we can give them, but I don't think putting more of them in the hands of psychiatrists and psychologists is the answer," says Horgan, who has two elementary school-age children. Indeed, those who believe that therapy would prevent school murders and save lives "as surely any vaccine" - as columnist Anna Quindlen has asserted - might ponder an embarrassing fact: The perpetrators of several school shootings that shocked the nation were no strangers to the mental health system.
Kip Kinkel, the Springfield, Ore., teenager who killed his parents and then opened fire on his classmates; Mitchell Johnson, one of the two shooters in Jonesboro, Ark.; Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, the Columbine High School killers - all had previously received psychotherapy or psychiatric counseling. Kinkel and Harris had been taking psychotropic medications.
One could argue that the real problem lies in the inadequacy of resources
for mental health services, or the societal prejudices that subvert treatment (Quindlen makes much of the fact that Kinkel's father disapproved of his therapy). But one could also admit that mental health treatment is no more of a "vaccine" against school shootings than, say, school prayer. There is no single vaccine against tragedy.
Certainly, there are children and adults who need treatment for mental
illness. But in reaching out to troubled kids, we should stress the human bonds and cultural values that make for a meaningful life before we medicalize childhood - and humanity itself.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner.
Further reproduction or distribution is prohibited without permission.
Thomas S. Szasz Cybercenter for Liberty and Responsibility:
Cathy Young is a contributing editor to Reason magazine. Her
column appears regularly in the Globe.
Copyright © 1998-2000 by the author of each page, except where noted. All rights reserved.