Szasz, Thomas

Anti-Psychiatry Demonstration in Washington, D.C.: Jettero Heller

Szasz, Thomas (1920 – )

Hungarian psychiatrist and author of many books, including his best known work, The Myth of Mental Illness (1960).

Almost a decade before collaborating with The Church of Scientology, Szasz argued that the science behind psychiatry provides an example of scientism.

For Szasz, the term mental illness is a socially constructed myth rather than an actual fact. He believes that the concept of mental illness is generated within, not above, other historically positioned truth claims.

Written before Henri Ellenberger’s The Discovery of the Unconscious (1970) and Michel Foucault’s poststructural analysis, Histoire de la folie à l’âge classique (1961), Szasz’s work is often on the reading list for undergraduate courses in the Humanities at liberal-democratic universities.

Critics of Szasz’s perspective point out that psychiatry like any other science is in a constant state of development. Depending on factors like the patient’s actual condition, the competency of the psychiatrist and the political climate of the country in which assessments are made, it may be used for good or ill.

Szasz continues to be prolific, however. His latest publications contain some sociological and philosophical insights but seem to represent the unrealistically polarized views of a somewhat isolated but well-meaning humanitarian (e.g Schizophrenia: The Sacred Symbol of Psychiatry, 1988; Psychiatry: The Science of Lies, 2008).

Most recognized psychiatric associations have rejected his ideas, a situation which some say resembles an orthodox Church marginalizing heresies.

The polarization of anti-psychiatry vs. psychiatry is a sad state of affairs because it probably makes otherwise intelligent figures like Szasz more uncompromising and extreme, lessening their ability to see other perspectives.

When someone is convinced they’re right and the other is entirely wrong, constructive dialogue usually disappears.

» DSM-IV-TR, Madness, Postmodernism, Unconscious

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Sublimation

Freud's influence? by Great Beyond / Tony Case

Sublimation

A theoretical process outlined in Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalysis where instinctual, antisocial id impulses are redirected toward non-instinctual, symbolic forms of behavior or expression.

This redirection of the id’s antisocial desires apparently depends on a certain degree of ego development, and is usually understood to fall within socially acceptable channels, such as the arts.

When art is displayed and accepted in a public space, either officially (as pictured right) or subversively (as with tolerated graffiti), sublimation can become a social psychological and not just an individual dynamic.

According to Freud’s daughter, Anna Freud, sublimation is a defense mechanism. And this process of making the scary safe may occur on a personal or societal level.

» Ashram, Cockburn (Bruce), Displacement, Myth, Reaction Formation, Symbol

References:

• Charles Rycroft, A Critical Dictionary of Psychoanalysis, Harmondsworth: Penguin 1977, pp. 159-160.

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Unconscious

Adrift by SeraphimC

Unconscious

Black’s Medical Dictionary (39th edition) defines the unconscious as “a description of mental activities of which an individual is unaware” (p. 567).

In the West, the idea of the unconscious has an interesting history. It is found in the ancient Greek literature of Sophocles, with related concepts such as hubris, and in Shakespeare and more recent writers like James Joyce.

Philosophical debates about its character flourished in the 18^th century among thinkers such as John Locke and David Hume.

More recently, Freud, Pierre Janet, Alfred Adler, Carl Jung and others have made important contributions.

Arthur Koestler says the idea of the unconscious was already known before the actual word ‘unconscious’ was coined. Koestler cites several examples where the notion of the unconscious is implied in the arts and philosophy-e.g. Dante, Kepler and Kant.

Koestler also says that consciousness and unconsciousness are not discrete states but exist along a continuum.†

From Koestler it seems reasonable to suggest that the range and character of this experiential continuum varies from person to person. In other words, some individuals consciously access different thoughts and emotions than others.

Perhaps most important is to remember that the unconscious is just a concept.

All too often it’s reified. Reification occurs when ideas are assumed to represent some real entity or thing–for instance, the sociological idea of ‘the state.’ Reified concepts may even point to detailed legal entities.

But the question remains as to whether the thing written and talked about exists as described.

A common mistake among contemporary writers is to say that Freud sees the unconscious as uniquely personal while his former protege Carl Jung sees it as collective. In actual fact both theorist recognize personal and collective aspects within their respective theories of the unconscious.

» Abyss, Active Imagination, Adler (Alfred), Akashic Records, Alice in Wonderland, Anima, Animus, Archaeology, Archetypal Image, Archetype, Aztecs, Beowulf, Censor, Collective Unconscious, Conscience, Controlled Dreaming, Deviance, Dionysus, Dracula, Dreams, Ego, Hendrix (Jimi), Hercules, Hero, Icebox effect, Id, Inflation, Jackson (Michael), Jonah, Klein (Melanie), Kraken, Lévi-Bruhl (Lucien), Madness, Madonna, Morphic resonance, Morphogenetic Fields, Numinous, Obsession, Oedipus Complex, Persephone, Pisces, Plato, Power, Pyramids, Reaction formation, Reincarnation, Representation, Repression, Secondary Revision, Self, Shadow, Splitting, Stages of Psychosexual Development, Superego, Surrealism, Symbol, Synchronicity, Szasz (Thomas), Tarot, Third Eye, Transference, Trickster

—

† Koestler, Arthur. The Act of Creation. New York: Penguin [Arkana], 1989: 147-177.

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DSM-IV-TR

Can I play with madness?

Originally uploaded by Giampaolo Squarcina

DSM-IV-TR (The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Version IV with Text Revisions)

This is the most recent manual developed by the American Psychiatric Association, one used by health professionals to classify various psychological disorders, generally referred to as mental illnesses.

The DSM-IV-TR is used around the world, along with two other manuals (The ICD-10 produced by the World Health Organization and The Chinese Classification of Mental Disorders produced by the Chinese Society of Psychiatry).

Each diagnosis is number-coded and depending on the country, may be used by hospitals, clinics and insurance companies.

Some postmoderns and particularly anti-psychiatry groups say that the DSM-IV-TR, along with its counterparts, constructs rather than classifies mental illnesses.

Conceptual and historically-based critiques of the DSM-IV-TR and of psychiatry in general tend to draw on the work of thinkers such as Michel Foucault, Thomas Szaz, R. D. Laing, Ram Dass, David Lukoff, Stanislav Grof, L. Ron Hubbard (the founder of Scientology) and others.

Other critiques focus not so much on the issue of the DSM-IV-TR’s analytical validity but on the possibility of negligence by incompetent practitioners.

Madness This Way

Originally uploaded by anikarenina

Debates also exist about the relation between psychiatric classification, on the one hand, and cultural, political and economic realities on the other hand, the most visible example being the link between pharmaceutical companies and the discipline of psychiatry.

While it may be tempting to readily dismiss the DSM-IV-TR as a 21st-century witch hunter’s manual,  one would do well to remember that psychiatry (along with its diagnostic tools) is a developing science.

This fact is often overlooked or negatively construed by its more forceful critics while embraced by its supporters.

Regardless of one’s philosophical position, the DSM-IV-TR still enjoys a high degree of societal legitimacy and legal power.

To this Ofer Zur, Ph.D. adds:

The DSM is a political not a scientific document. It pathologizes women, children, and minorities. It defines existentially normal behaviors as mental illnesses. It is a money making endeavor for psychiatry and other mental health professionals. It ‘dares’ to define what is normal and what is abnormal and who should be free or detained against their will…[one may find] a detailed critical article about the DSM at http://www.zurinstitute.com/dsmcritique.html » See in context

» Corruption, Madness

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Wave

Hokusai – The Great Wave

Originally uploaded by Dystopos

Wave In physics a physical wave is defined as a regular disturbance in a medium, the net result being a transfer of energy.

Electromagnetic waves, however, may travel through a medium or a vacuum.

Many contemporary New Age writers dubiously liken waves to both matter-energy and spirit. According to this view, the Holy Spirit potentially could be measured with some kind of metering system.

This perspective seems lacking because it excludes a whole realm of grace and spirit said to exist beyond but within the world of matter and energy.

And arguably those who have not experienced the uniquely numinous quality of the spirit for themselves will most likely continue to suppose that matter-energy is equivalent to spirit, or perhaps reduce all things spiritual to vulgar materialistic or purely psychoanalytic explanations.

In Christian theological terms, God’s grace is said to be immanent within but qualitatively different from experiences stemming from the natural world of matter-energy (e.g. the aesthetic appreciation of a sunset or endorphin rushes from exercise).

Again, this distinction is seems to elude some New Age enthusiasts. And to complicate matters, poets, depth psychologists and mystics make the case for different types of spiritual experience–each type being qualitatively different from the realm of matter-energy.

» Adamski (George), Berkeley (George), Eliade (Mircea), Interference, Jung (Carl Gustav), Lenard, (Philipp Eduard Anton), Meditation, Otto (Rudolf), Particle, Particle-Wave Duality, Schrodinger (Erwin), Standing Wave, Swedenborg (Emanuel), Young (Thomas)

Image:

• Animation of standing wave in the stationary medium with marked wave nodes

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X-Men

X-Men

Originally uploaded by Grumpstone

X-Men

A fictional team of mutant superheroes with special abilities created by Marvel Comics writers Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.

The original comic series has been successfully translated into a film trilogy and an animated TV series.

There is also an American and Canadian science fiction television show called Mutant X that is based on the original Marvel comic strip.

The idea of X-Men compels us to remember that genetic mutation and recombination need not always be bad.

Society’s condemnation of the X-Men and their genetically enhanced abilities is unfounded, even paranoid, and might parallel present misunderstandings and tensions between those lying in the middle and at the extremes of the so-called normal bell curve.

Quite possibly some of today’s “freaks and geeks” represent a kind of precursor to the next stage of human evolution.

It has also been argued that X-Men is a symbolic protest against current forms of racism and discrimination that different religious, ethnic and status groups may hold toward one another. » Science Fiction

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Evil

Evil The idea of evil has several meanings and different types of arguments try to explain its existence.

Some materialists and scientists scoff at the notion of evil as if it were an antiquated legacy from a superstitious past.

Violent criminals are usually explained away on the evening news in medico-psychiatric terms. Murderers are often reported as ‘mentally-ill’ rather than ‘possessed by the devil.’

Sometimes attempts are made to integrate these two perspectives and other times not. Meanwhile, tyrants and warmongerers are often viewed through a historical or perhaps political lens.

A basic theological distinction exists between natural evil and moral evil. Natural evil includes “acts of God” such as floods, earthquakes and avalanches. Moral evil is a conscious human choice to turn away from God’s will and participate in some action harmful to self and possibly others.

Duns Scotus classified “intrinsic evil” as acts that are inherently evil and accordingly prohibited. But intrinsically evil acts are not evil because they are prohibited.

In Christian theology evil is often seen as a necessary component of God’s plan of salvation. Here one accepts as an article of faith that God permits evil for some greater good, beyond the comprehension of mere mortals (see Isaiah 55:8-9).

One school of thought, begun by Irenaeus and popularized by John Hick, argues that evil is permitted but not caused by God.

Why, one might ask, would a good and all-powerful God permit evil?

According to the Irenian school the answer lies with the idea of ’soul making.’ A soul freely choosing to abstain from evil is of greater value than one that automatically avoids evil like a robot. The free soul apparently better glorifies God than a sinless automaton.

Although evil may ravage, test and torment good souls living on earth, the true goal of our finite, earthly life is to be made worthy of eternal heavenly life.

According to this perspective the evils of the world act as a crucible. Souls not succumbing to but resisting evil are purified and strengthened towards the good. Evil, then, is necessary. It acts as a kind of ‘hammer’ that pounds out the soul’s impurities.

St. Thomas Aquinas, in keeping with the final winnowing of the Apocalypse (Luke 3:17, Matthew 3:12), writes that

God permits some evils lest the good things should be obstructed.

Another argument, influenced by Plato’s idea of the Forms, is forwarded by St. Augustine. Augustine sees evil as a privatio boni–the absence of good. According to this view, since God is good, evil must be where God is not present. Therefore God doesn’t create evil. It’s a choice.

The theological debates get complicated here and some ask whether Augustine’s theodicy holds up for both natural and moral evil.

Different branches of Christianity hold different views about the afterlife condition of the evil soul. Some damn sinners eternally. Martin Luther, for instance, believed that some souls are predestined for hell.

Meanwhile many contemporary religious persons pray for the liberation of souls in hell. And the Catholic Purgatory is neither heaven nor hell but a difficult preparation for heaven.

Evil in Islam is similar to that of Christianity. But for Muslims it is evil to suggest that Christ is one with God (John 10:30). And the prohibitions in the Koran differ from those of the New Testament. Notably, killing is permitted in the Koran in some circumstances (see http://www.yoel.info/koranwarpassages.htm and http://www.islamreview.com/articles/jihadholywarversesinthekoran.shtml), whereas the very thought of killing is denounced in the New Testament.

Many branches of Christianity do, however, entertain the idea of a Just War.

In Hinduism a different view of evil is presented. Evil is permitted to maintain a proper balance of sacred heat or power (tapas) within the universe.

Aspects of Hinduism speak to the reality of hell for evildoers. But evil in Hinduism is mostly viewed in terms of ignorance and spiritual evolution, making punishment temporary instead of eternal.

According to this perspective, the evil soul reincarnates on earth until it is cleansed of the ignorance that influenced it to commit bad deeds.

The Hindu aspires to transcend relative ideas about good and evil through an experiential knowledge of universal truth.

Accordingly, the goal of Hinduism differs from both Christianity and Islam. For the Hindu, heaven is akin to a halfway house on the road to ultimate realization. The reincarnating soul may enjoy periodic visits to different heavens but though the round of rebirth it eventually transcends all heavens and ultimately achieves the greatest good of the Brahman.

A similar but in some ways different view of evil is presented in Taoism. It remains uncertain as to whether Christian, Jewish, Islamic, Buddhist, Taoist and Hindu heavens and hells are identical in character.

Mircea Eliade notes that heavens and hells are described differently among world religions. And it seems that we cannot know if these are experientially equivalent across the board.

Most global cultures at some point in history have seen evil as a cause of mental or physical illness. This view is prevalent in Shamanism. And some religious writers, such as the Catholic Michael Brown, claim to feel the presence of evil almost anywhere.

On the inferiority of evil as compared to good, W. H. Auden writes in A Certain World:

Good can imagine Evil; but Evil cannot imagine Good.

» Determinism, Free-will, Shamanism, Siva, Suffering, Trickster

On the World Wide Web:

• That Religious Studies Website: The freewill defense (St. Augustine of Hippo): Part 1

Image Credit:

• “Sauron’s eye : my church is turning evil !” originally uploaded to flickr.com by AmUnivers / Amelie » http://www.flickr.com/photos/amunivers/199008242/, Creative Commons Share Alike License

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Adler, Alfred

Adler, Alfred (1870-1937) An important Austrian psychiatrist who graduated from medicine in 1895 and was attracted to Sigmund Freud’s work when he read the latter’s Interpretation of Dreams. 

Shortly afterward, Adler was asked to join Freud’s inner circle within the emerging school of psychoanalysis. 

His Studie über Minderwertigkeit von Organen (Study of Organ Inferiority and its Psychical Compensation, 1907), however, was too controversial for the old master, leading to one of the great schisms in the history of psychoanalysis. 

Adler was the very first to depart from Freud’s circle, followed by C. G. Jung. 

Adler’s lasting contribution to psychology centers on his claim that humans have an innate “drive for aggression.” If a developing child has (or imagines) a defect in their bodies they may develop an inferiority complex, an unconscious sense of inadequacy. 

To compensate for this negative self-attitude, the individual manifests the opposite: an unrealistic superiority complex. 

Adler believes we all do this to some degree. The situation becomes neurotic when one disregards the rights of others and causes injury. It becomes psychotic when one loses their authentic relationship with the world and others. 

Of course, some argue that the definition of an “authentic relationship” is difficult to define and standardize, especially with the growing popularity of social networking websites like facebook and myspace, along with information-sharing sites like youtube and flickr. 

Another critique is that Adlerian thought advances a fundamental biological drive for aggression and recognizes the importance of social factors contributing to the total personality but doesn’t leave much room for human spirituality, arguably the most important and lasting aspect of the self.

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Alien Possession Theory (APT)

Alien Trio 2

Originally uploaded by bbaltimore

Alien Possession Theory (APT)

A corrupt tree cannot bear good fruit (Luke 6:43)

APT considers the possibility, commonly found within science fiction, that hostile extraterrestrials (ETs) from another world or realm may have a negative effect on psychologically vulnerable human individuals through the use of psi.

This alien invasion motif does not involve visible aggression as portrayed in H. G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds, John Wyndham’s The Day of the Triffids or Star Trek’s Borg collective.

Instead, APT entertains the notion of a purely transpersonal colonization of the mind by malevolent ETs or evil spiritual beings (traditionally regarded as demons), which together are called negative spiritual influences (NSI).

According to APT, NSIs might convince individuals that they are better, special or chosen from the common herd partly by preying on unresolved inferiority complexes, bestowing paranormal abilities and promising to fulfil personal hopes and dreams.

From an Adlerian perspective, some victims of early psychological and/or physical abuse might compensate for deep-seated feelings of inferiority by believing they’re superior to others.

It’s probably easier for some to see themselves as chosen prophets or invaluable, inter-dimensional ambassadors instead of examining the psychological scars of childhood left behind from a dysfunctional family and/or oppressive political environment.

Why Psi?

APT explores but does not assert as true or false the notion that NSI and related paranormal phenomena could exist.

Arlan K. Andrews summarizes a considerable number of reports suggesting that belief in the presence of ETs and UFOs, especially after first contact, is linked to a significant increase in psi abilities.¹

From the perspective of APT, any newfound abilities (e.g. telepathy, precognition, telekinesis) or perhaps the uncritical belief in such abilities could entice victims into regarding themselves as hereditarily above the rank and file.

In keeping with this idea, it is a historical fact that both violent tyrants and non-violent fanatics often believe they are uniquely privileged agents of God or some higher power.

In contemporary psychiatric parlance one might say that the pain of a childhood complex is repressed and supplanted by magical thinking that contributes to the development of sociopathy at one extreme or, at the other extreme, to harmless, non-violent daydreamers and religious zealots.

But APT favors a holistic approach over the psychiatric tendency to emphasize biological, psychological and social factors contributing to destructive mental illnesses or innocuous fantasies and delusions. Alleged paranormal phenomena such as ETs and psi are not necessarily explained away as hallucinations, fantasies or delusions born of so-called chemical imbalances, faulty genes, poor nutrition, stress, childhood trauma or some combination thereof.²

Again, APT recognizes the possibility that NSI and psi could exist. But rather than setting out to prove or disprove the existence of NSI and psi, APT is more concerned to practically assess the ethical attitudes and behavior linked to a given person or group’s beliefs about these, as of yet, unproven possibilities.

Thus APT examines whether or not observable attitudes and behavior support a person or group’s belief in the alleged goodness of supposed ET associates and the paranormal powers they allegedly bestow.

APT draws on the theological idea of ‘the discernment of spirits’ but its overall outlook is not necessarily restricted to traditional religious cosmologies.

Rather than limiting itself to the assumptions and parameters of a single discipline, APT builds on and attempts to integrate aspects of scientific, sociological, philosophical and theological discourse in order to advance knowledge and promote wellness in this intriguing and sometimes difficult area.

It should be stressed that APT is chiefly concerned with understanding and rectifying beliefs about ETs and psi that are deemed as potentially unhealthy and dysfunctional.

The notion that not just hostile but benevolent ETs may, indeed, exist is not ruled out. But APT places Husserlian brackets³ around any such truth-claims.

Notes:

1. See “Psychic Aspects of UFO’s” in Ronald Story, ed. The Encyclopedia of UFO’s. Doubleday & Co. Garden City, New York: 1980, pp. 286-289.
2. The widespread belief, promotion and advertising of ideas like chemical imbalance and faulty genes has been critiqued from diverse sociological, philosophical and scientific perspectives.
3. See “5. The phenomenological epoché” at http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/husserl/#PheEpo

» 1984, Aliens, “ET’s, UFO’s and the Psychology of Belief,” UFOs

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