1. The Tyranny of Psychiatry
Carmela Amankwaah
University of Maryland, Baltimore County
Fall 2009

2. Clip ~ Violence Teaser
Introduction
CCHRint. Psychiatry's Prescription for Violence Teaser

3. “Anti - Psychiatry”

4. The Age of Enlightenment
The Congress of the Dialectics of
Liberation ~ 1967, London
Psychiatrists
Marxist Intellectuals
Anarchists
Political leaders
Thomas, Philip & Bracken, Patrick (2004)

5. Dr. David Cooper {1931 - 1986}
South African Psychiatrist

Coined the term “anti-psychiatry”

Marxist Revolutionary

Wrote numerous essays against psycho-

politics
Encouraged revolution against orthodox

psychiatry
“Madness” and “Psychosis” were products

of society
“Knowing what ain’t so” – Thomas Szasz (2005)

6. Dr. Ronald D. Laing {1927 - 1989}
Scottish Psychiatrist

Critic of psychiatric diagnoses as

biological phenomena
Co-founded a community based

psychiatric facility for
schizophrenics (Kingsley Hall)
Author of numerous books on

mental health
“Knowing what ain’t so” – Thomas Szasz (2005)

7. Dr. Leon Redler & Dr. Joseph Berke
“Knowing what ain’t so” – Thomas Szasz (2005)

8. “The trouble with people, is not what
they don’t know but that they know so
much that ain’t so.”
- Josh Billings, American humorist

9. Citizens Commission on Human Rights
CCHR Conference - Dr. Szasz
CCHRint. Thomas Szasz, Professor of Psychology Emeritus.

10. Dr. Thomas Szasz

11. Dr. Thomas Szasz
Born on April 15, 1920 in Budapest – Hungary.

1944 - Medical Degree from University of Cincinnati.

Chicago Institute for Psychoanalysis, certificate, 1950.

Member: American Psychiatric Association (fellow), American

Psychoanalytic Association.
The Myth of Mental Illness (1961)

Law, Liberty, and Psychiatry

The Theology of Medicine

Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry -State University of New York.

www.szasz.com

12. The Myth of Mental Illness
Part One:

Hysteria: Differences between body illnesses from their

imitations.
Psychiatry is a pseudo-science.

Nonsensical to treat behaviors using a medical approach

Mental Illness as a fallacy.

Part Two:

Man’s Responsibility

Development of Moral Thinking

Moral Issues in psychiatry and psychology

Szasz, Thomas (1961). The Myth of Mental Illness

13. “Mental Illness”
The Convenient Myth
Age of Faith:

Religion mimics Science
Age of Science:

Psychiatry mimics Science
Szasz, Thomas (2006). The Pretense of Psychology as Science

14. “Mental Illness” Does not Exist!
The Implications of Semantics

15. What is an Illness?
Biological deviation from the norm

Cancer

Body Temperature

Hypertension

Szasz, Thomas. The Myth of Mental Illness

16. “It takes one person to develop a real
disease. But it takes two people to
develop a mental illness”
- Dr. Thomas Szasz
Thomas Szasz. cchr.org

17. What is a “Mental Illness”?
Psychological deviation from the Norm?

Psychological Norms - tied to cultural, social,

ethical, and legal contexts.
Depression

Anxiety

Divorce

Vengeance

Szasz, Thomas. The Myth of Mental Illness

18. Diagnosing “Mental Illness”
Psychiatrist/Psychotherapist

is an “active participant”.
Diagnoses are subjective.

Influenced by psychosocial

and ethical constraints.
Szasz, Thomas. The Myth of Mental Illness

19. Treating “Mental Illness”
Assumptions
Problems with daily living – pathological.

“Patients” are not responsible.

Claims objective and value-free diagnoses.

Behavioral deviations are biological/neurological

conditions.
Existing biological tests.

Szasz, Thomas. The Myth of Mental Illness

20. “Mental Illness” -- Behavioral
Maladjustment
If not Nature, then Nurture.

Lose term for describing the manifestation of

mankind's struggle to live.
Szasz, Thomas. The Myth of Mental Illness

21. On Obscenity
“ . . . I know it when I see it . . .”
-- Justice Potter Stewart - 1964

22. Becoming Real Doctors
Diagnoses (Labels)

Manual ~
 The DSM
Treatment

(Psychotropic drugs)
Thomas Szasz. cchr.org

23. Psychiatry and Pharmaceutical
Companies
“Conjoined twins joined at the wallet”
-Kay Carlson former drug rep. cchr.org

24. “Effects” of Psychotropic Drugs
Dry mouth Hypomania
 
Dizziness
 Suicide

Increase in appetite

Seizures

Agitation
 Aggressive attention-seeking

Sedation - lethargy

behavior
Photosensitivity

Involuntary dizziness,

Rash

Lightheadedness

Insomnia

Psychosis

Activation of mania

Gastrointestinal complaints

cchr.org

25. Breeding Violence

26. Breeding Violence
School Shooters on Drugs
Illinois – February 14, 2008: 27-year-old Steven Kazmierczak killed 5 ~ Xanax

Nebraska – December 5, 2007: 19-year-old Robert Hawkins killed 9 ~ Valium

Jokela, Finland – November 7, 2007: 18-year-old Finnish gunman Pekka-Eric Auvinend killed 8 ~

antidepressants
Cleveland - October 10, 2007: 14-year-old Asa Coon killed 1, wounded 4 ~ Trazodone

Blacksburg, Virginia – April 16, 2007: The psychiatric drug history of Seung-Hui Cho in the Virginia

Tech Massacre was never made public.~ “depression medication”
Lake, Minnesota – March 2005: 16-year-old Jeff Weise, killed 10 ~ Prozac.

New York – February 2004: 16-year-old Jon Romano opened fire on school mates ~ “medication

for depression”.
CCHR.org. List of School and Teen Shooters

27. Breeding Violence
School Shooters on Drugs
Idaho – April 16, 1999: 15-year-old Shawn Cooper, opened fire in school ~ SSRI

antidepressant and Ritalin
Springfield, Oregon – May 21, 1998: 15-year-old Kip Kinkel, killed 4 ~ Prozac

El Cajon, California – March 22, 2001: 18-year-old Jason Hoffman, opened fire on

classmates ~ Celexa and Effexor
Pennsylvania – March 7, 2000: 14-year-old Elizabeth Bush shot fellow students ~ Prozac

Georgia – May 20, 1999: 15-year-old T.J. Solomon, shot and wounded 6 ~ andti

depressants
Columbine, Colorado – April 20, 1999: 18-year-old Eric Harris, Dylan Klebold, killed 13~

Luvox (Harris)
CCHR.org. List of School and Teen Shooters

28. The Facts
100 million people worldwide are on psychotropic

medications.
As of 2009 17 million children are prescribed

psychotropic drugs.
580% increase (from 1995) in anti-depressant

prescription for children under 6 yrs old.
3000 psychotropic-related deaths per year (world wide).

http://www.fightforkids.org/facts.html

29. Cui Bono?
(Who Benefits?)
Dissonance between the nature of Mental

Disorders (behavioral) and their Treatment
(biological).
Pharmaceutical Companies

Psychiatrists/Psychotherapists

Families?

Patients?


30. WHY???

32. Conclusions ~ So What?
Effect of Psychiatry

on Psychology
Paradigm Shift

Critical Psychiatry


33. Instrumental Sources
Citizens Commission on

Human Rights
Survivors Speak Out

National Self-Harm

Network
The Hearing Voices

Network, Mad Pride and

Mad Women

34. Depressed Parrot on Prozac
telegraph.co.uk

35. References
Biley, Francis C. (2009). Review: Critical Psychiatry: The Limits of Madness.

Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing. Vol 16, 214 - 223
CCHRint. Psychiatry's Prescription for Violence Teaser. September 05, 2008.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Z-9aYvTtIw&feature=channel.
CCHRint. Thomas Szasz, Professor of Psychology Emeritus. February 16, 2008.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQegsqYhuZE&feature=related. Retrieved
April, 25, 2009.
CCHR.org. List of School and Teen Shooters. White Papers. Retrieved April 25,

2009.
Duncan B. Double (2004). Biomedical Bias of the American Psychiatric

Association. Ethical Human Psychohgy and Psychiatry, Vol. 6, 2.
Fight for Kids. http://www.fightforkids.org/facts. Retrieved April 25, 2009.

John A. Vernon Joseph H. Golec, Randall Lutter and Clark Nardinelli (2006). FDA

New Drug Approval Times, Prescription Drug User Fees, and R & D Spending.
Szasz, Thomas. (2005) Knowing What Ain't So - R.D Laing and Thomas Szasz.

Existential Analysis 16.1.

36. References
Szasz, Thomas. www.szasz.com Retrieved April 25, 2009.

Szasz, Thomas (1961). The Myth of Mental Illness: Foundations of a Theory of

Personal Conduct
Szasz, Thomas (2006). The Pretense of Psychology as Science:The Myth of

Mental Illness in Statu Nascendi
Telegraph News (November 2008). Parrot Given Prozac After Owner Dies.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/3487321/Parrot-
given-Prozac-after-owner-dies.html
Thomas, Philip and Bracken, Patrick (2004). Critical Psychiatry in Practice.

Advances in Psychiatric Treatment. vol. 10, 361 - 370.