CCHR Co-Founder Dr. Thomas Szasz, Professor of Psychiatry Emeritus

[LaPieinsky]

Of course there are mental conditions, but is it right to call them diseases? Should the word condition not suffice, because it seems that (as this man says) all the imbalances result from a CONDITIONMENT?

"...to stigmatize and control people".... and don't 'mentally ill' patients have a history that is sourced in their background (in most cases their parents)? so I understand this doctor above and I think he means conditions rather than actual diseases. Listen to what he says about Freedom too

[RomeshSenewiratne]

Psychiatry is truly a pseudoscience. The criteria used for 'diagnosis' routinely describe positive aspects of behaviour in a negative way - 'impulsivity' for spontaneity, 'elevation' for excitement etc. Stigmatizing labels, such as 'schizophrenia' and 'bipolar' are an avoidable cause of suicide in the modern world - the drugs used in the treatment of these supposed mental illnesses cause much more harm than good. Please check out my book 'The Pseudoscience of Schizophrenia' (posted on Scribd)

[tien714]

Psychiatry is a complete and utter scam and it's a shame that people are actually being fooled by this industry.

[miketran777]

This doctor is right on...We have lots of personal experience with this topic...It's all about money...drug money...They have been brainwashing people for years...Follow the money and you will understand what drives the healthcare industry to push drugs for "conditions" that have been created in recent years in order to push drugs on naive patients...The drug companies will stop at nothing to discredit people who speak the truth about this fraud...

[SuperDelta000]

psychiatry CAUSES mental SUFFERING!

[pacer91345]

@SuperDelta000 true! u are fine till u see a stupid symptom of sumthing normal then u get all stressed for nothing ! for example u look up tic they say its a brain abnormality and chemical imbalance and it will never get better wtff lol dats not true u can get better from a normal tic like blinking from exercising ur eyes and being healthy but they dont want to tell u that!

[Bomberdoom]

*women, half of *HUMANKIND.

[laughingliberal]

I agree that we live in an over-medicated society, particularly when it comes to medicating children. But It belittles how serious psychiatric illnesses can be. There are children out there who truly have ADHD & it makes their lives a incredibly difficult. Why take away medication if it improves a child's quality of life? Yes, I think there need to be some major changes in regulations of psychiatric drugs, particularly with regards to children but saying that drugs are poison is a falsity.

[Sammygirl1231]

While ADHD is over diagnosed this does not mean that it does not exist. The same applies to all other psychiatric disorders. And no these disorders are not diseases, a disease describes something that is caused by a pathogen eg. a virus. While the word disorder characterizes something that is malfunctioning in the body and producing symptoms. Many people point to psychiatry as being a poor treatment option yet when it comes to things like bipolar disorder and schizophrenia they have no better

[TMOvids]

@Sammygirl1231 ADHD being overdiagnosed does not mean that it doesn't exist. However, the lack of any evidence of physical malfunction does. Same is true for bipolar. Schizophrenia is a trickier matter, but that also probably doesn't exist.

[BabetteBabich]

Szasz is not out of date. He has yet to become timely.

[paj4ica]

Oh!! Not that only he is out of date, but he is misleading so many people. How can you say this! Didn't have you already heard of biological psychiatry? What about the imaging techniques that reveal the abnormality (both physiologically and morphologically) of the brain? What about social impairment? What about the negative symptoms of the so many diseases?

[CCHRInt]

@paj4ica Um....unfortunately you are out of date. "biological psychiatry" has not proven ONE mental disorder is the result of a physical abnormality.. Not one blood test, brain scan, MRI, genome, chemical imbalance test. Not one. And to clarify...a disease is not a "symptom." A symptom is a sign to look for something. A symptom is not a disease. That is not what diseases are. There is not ONE brain scan imaging" technique proven to show abnormality. You have to do some actual research.

[paj4ica]

@CCHRInt I'm a psychiatrist, and doing research. This video is non-sense. I even don't know what to say. There is literally SOOO many research papers showing the biological base of mental diseases. PET scans, CT scans, MRI... Dopamin receptor hyperactivity in schizophrenia patients. L-dopa efectivness in Parkinson patients. So many, so many. You dont have to be a scientist to know this. But if you want to, there are a lot of papers on internet.

It is a shame misleading people!

[CCHRInt]

@paj4ica OK paj$ica, name the approved PET Scan, MRI or any chemical test which proves mental disorders are valid disease/medical conditions. Because neither the APA, the AMA, or the NIMH have one, and all admit this. There is no chemical test for dopamine receptors in the brain, so don't know what research you're doing, but research is not evidence. That's the first thing they should have taught you in medical school. And even the former head of the APA says it is PSYCHIATRY misleading people

[SuperDelta000]

@paj4ica Experiment on yourself you fool. You can shove your pseudoscience theories up your ass.

[pj650zmyn]

@paj4ica I do not think you are a psychiatrist. You do not seem to have had any formal education. You should learn to write, at the very least it will make you seem a little more credible.

[CCHRInt]

@pj650zmyn That is funny. You debate with the skill of a six year old.

[LucidFelix]

@CCHRInt Why is it that when a modern "intellectual" is confronted with questions whose answers disqualify their current position, they immediately retort by dismissing the character of the opposing individual on the basis of a supposed relative lack of education? It's likely that this defiant individual is a product of indoctrination by a pharmaceutically funded and politically medical school cartel, and thus has never been exposed to arguments against established ideas apart from youtube.

[rlwemm]

Szasz is out of date.  Brain scans and other brain investigations are able to show the biological basis of the disorders he believes "don't exist". He is only right in saying that these disorders are not "diseases" - they are not based on germs.

[CCHRInt]

@rlwemm Uh no....he's not. There is no brain scan to prove mental disorders are brain abnormalities. Period. This is from two months ago, and we quote, “There are no objective tests in psychiatry-no X-ray, laboratory, or exam finding that says definitively that someone does or does not have a mental disorder.”

— Allen Frances, Psychiatrist, Former DSM-IV Task Force Chairman

[insidegame33]

That the answer is NOT the implied "righteousness" of the man in the white suit who forces you on pills, scares you into thinking you're this or that for HE TOO believes the LIES that have been fed to him by his ACADEMIA. The answer, my friends, lies within YOU and YOUR SOUL..and YOUR CONNECTION with your God of worship. AMEN! Don't feed the greed!

[insidegame33]

Don't worry. All of you people who've been labeled or hurt, if your soul has been infiltrated by these morons claiming to be "doctors," I am here to show you a new light. Regardless of the situation you are in, you DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT, need to be in it. Only YOU can determine YOUR destiny. Not a doctor, NOT a parent, a friend, or a family member...YOU...and it is YOU who knows the answers deep down inside your souls...That the answer is not BRAINWASHING drugs...That the answer is NOT

[jackbutler5555]

Had my sister been treated promptly in childhood or adolescence, she would not have had to deal with highly resistant symptoms of schizophrenia -- such as recurring catatonia -- today. This guy is making the old-fashioned denial of mental illness respectable again, because he has a tuxedo and speaks with a foreign accent.

[2Majesties]

Looney bird. Too bad. He takes a legitimate concern for overreaching by the medical establishment, which we should always be wary of, and turns it into the simple-minded ravings of knucklehead...

[CCHRInt]

research is revealing more and more? Yes it is but not in the way you state. Recent studies just showed antipsychotic drugs are responsible for brain atrophy not "schizophrenia" -- the former head of the DSM is out pounding the press saying all mental disorders are subject to whim and not medically proven. You ask "Are you saying brain's don't malfunction" - that's non sequiter to the debate. Yes they do. And it is visible by test, or x-ray. Mental disorders are not. Period.

[namayake]

Psychiatry & all sciences' problem is stripping of the knowledge from the people & placing it into the hands of unscrupulous agents in secret rooms behind the locked doors of big business in the environment of unregulated capitalism. Then they can tell you & sell you whatever they want & get away with it because you don't know any better & there's no one to stop them. But even then to discredit any science as a whole is to cut off our noses despite our face. But what to do is for you to decide.

[angryDAnerd]

I agree with what Mr Szasz is saying, but he undermines his cause by associating with the Cult of Scientology. Scientology is AT LEAST as dangerous as the worst aspects of Psychiatry, and the only reason they target Psychiatry in the first place is because they want to replace it with their own insane system of mental enslavement.

[CCHRInt]

@angryDAnerd "Angry D A Nerd" .... enough said.

[giambabest]

@CCHRInt Szazs has nothing to share with Scientology.

[PinkPunkyKat]

It won't be too long before he have a name and a pill for a condition in which someone litteraly cannot pick their nose with the right hand.

[ChinoRdrgz]

i'm so glad people are becoming more aware of the deception of pharmaceutical companies!

with that being said, i found @2:02 hilarious!

"thats why as soon as you go to doctor, they take alot of blood & take xrays; they dont want to hear how you behave."

[CapitanWafles]

There is a difference between missbehave and unable to behave. If a kid is missbehavin it means the kid doesnt feel like to act in a specific way. In ADHD kids are UNABLE for example to sit still for a longer time, concentrate on one one task without getting distracted etc.

And about black slaves and women. At that time commonly they were recognized as "lower class people". So creation of histeria etc were influenced by social "laws" at that time.

[btime839]

The Drapetomania example is such a simple yet great way of describing the problems that modern psychiatry has.

[btime839]

One of my Favs! Dr. Breggin and Dr. Szasz are two Doctors who actually are telling the truth!!!

[whothefuckaskedyou]

Superb video. Thank u

[sigmunds1]

This guy talks out of both sides of his mouth . I don't understand how he can condem the same people that he is apart of .

[jguterman]

Szasz refers to "Spring Fever" as a piece of poetry. His explication is poetic. For example, when at 2:35 he states, "I have long maintained that the child psychiatrist is one of the most dangerous enemies, not only of children, but of adults, of all of us who care of the most precious and most vulnerable things in life. and those two things are children and liberty."

[TheCass37]

QUACKQUACKQUACK

[aLitteTooMuch]

@TheCass37

I can see that you are contributing a great deal

of thoughtful information here. Are you

self medicating for ADHD?

[Badwolf182]

What 'they' are basically doing is medicating human diversity. The variance which is a natural occurence - some ppl are born less happy than others and some are born more active than others and others more grumpy....and the list goes on. They now have a pill for shyness YES it is NOW mental disorder!!!! what they want to create is a McDOnalds version (bland) of human population. Everyone does what everyone else does - so they can predict behaviour thus sell their products meds/plasma tv mobile

[gunthaarz]

I'd like to know what kind of psychiatric disorder the 39 people who pressed "dont like" are thinking and suffering from :)

[barrywilliamsmb]

Wow! Thank you for this video.

[wowbenji]

great video so true

[marek0086]

ADHD is a dis-ease!..... because it can be CURED with a good diet !!!

[misschesca234]

@marek0086 - by what you say, it's not a disease, merely a symptom of a bad diet -the same as obesity. Disease implies it's an internal illness, something that shouldnt be there. if it can be "cured" simply by a good diet, then the child doesn't need pills or tablets to remove the 'disease' . Bad skin, obesity, low energy, ADHD - all can be sorted with a good diet! This doesn't make them a disease.

[wierdchick711]

such truth. I hate how today, any thing that seems out of normal behavior is instantly taken to the doctor to be diagnosed.

[ghbabak]

Real truth ... very disturbing but informative! POST IT IN YOUR UNIVERSITY Facebook page to share and spread the info. Also, see and share the talk by Prof. Jeffery Schaler!

[Queenofhearts05]

Love this! Another reason why I'm in psychology and I do not think of medicine as a treatment to people's problems. Just brilliant.

[paze21]

ust a thought ...

if you think it doesnt help.. why do you still do your job ? of course you need money, but the sideeffects of the drugs childen and adults take is Crazy... id change if i saw there is no real help is the "help"...

[marukasdega]

awesome! thank you! :)

[wolfmanmischa]

ttooo true!

[beta447]

Logic at its finest.

[onesimplevoice]

Exactly right! The mental profession requires "oversight and constraint". This has been a historically abusive system because it is hidden from public view and scrutiny. And they intend to keep it that way! The courts are complicit by ignoring safeguards that would protect individuals civil and constitutional rights. No profession should be immune to the law.

[gia7770]

i cant believe i just happened to stumble upon this video...this is BRILLIANT! my child has been diagnosed with mild adhd, and this is what ive been saying ALL ALONG which no one wants to listen to. I effin knew it!!! THANK YOUUUU!!! :D

[dvdmhn]

I bet one million that diagnosis in psychiatry is so fake that anyone can fake a diagnosis like Dr. John Nashs' Schizophrenia. Check also out Matchstick Men with Nicholas Cage meeting a psychiatrist. This is happening in psychiatry at hospitals .

[rahidelvi]

I would love to see the whole talk.

[Draziom203]

Psychiatric drugs are usually prescribed as a "solution" to a problem. But they only mask the problem and never allow the person to look at its real cause. Everyone strongly disagrees with the enforced and harmful methods employed by psychiatrists. Psychiatrists fail to mention the horrendous side effects of their drugs. They often cause irreversible damage to the brain and nervous system. These effects usually require a further drug to contain them.

[marimanque]

Fucking brilliant!

[Hawkwind51]

I've read several of Dr. Szasz's books, the man is brilliant.

[ToddBoyle]

When I was in the VA Hospital in 1973, one of the psychologists there gave me a copy of Szasz "Ideology or Insanity" -- it was a key to my recovery and successful life thereafter. He quit, by the way. Let me just say, hospitals, clinics, psychologists have a role and can benefit many people, but absolutely require oversight and constraint. Sadly, due to patient's insistence on privacy, that constraint and pushback can only come from patients. Not a good situation. READ SZASZ's BOOK.

[joeyscorpionking]

I respect this man. He is doing good and enlightening people. He really cares

[JaquesLeMondial]

simply brilliant! finally a man of trust!

[JueputaGuebon]

wow

may all the loving in the world bless this great man and help him achieve this great goal...

much love to all those who know this to be true.

peace

[kiasmus]

Please, we need more Szasz's videos on Youtube. His is a kind of intelligence rarely seen in these days. Not surprising when you discover that he corresponded with people like Popper, Hayek, Kesey and Leary.

[TheMeanpeoplesuck]

Thomas Szazs, the original and still the best-educated, best-informed voice against the tyranny of psychiatry because he learned it from the inside out. He is a co-founder of CCHR, which tells you right away how respectable an organization they are. Great work!! Show it to everyone you know.

[Ken9284]

@TheMeanpeoplesuck Totally agree with you. I can't stand that psychiatry is taught at college and people are dumb enough to major in it. Psychiatrists ruin so many lives with their false bullshit.

[tundraahugo]

The key word was in the very last statement "The CONSCIENCE demands that we do no less". The problem today is that so many are spoon fed the garbage that the media says is true (What??I saw it on TV, it must be true). And so many are raised without awareness of a conscience!! A well stated video, and boy, what a hoot using "Spring Fever" for an example!!! A great way to illustrate absurdity by being absurd!!

[kiasmus]

"No behaviour or misbehaviour is a disease or can be a disease." Impossible to formulate it clearer. Brilliant guy. Razor-sharp mind.

[ExplicitContent81]

Ive gotten rid of ADD and Anxiety though changing my diet. All I had to do was eat more whole foods and less proceeded foods (preferably organic,) drink clean water with some simple exercise. Not only do I not need a drug that alters my state of mind, there are no side affects only benefits. For example I'm now down to my appropriate weight for my hight and age, great skin, etc..

[jetztraum]

this mvt is a threat to modern rationality! whit their fanatic insistence on the existence of a soul they will stab the knife in the back of modernity while it's fighting religious delusion worldwide.

how should you guys ever understand what psychiatry is all about? your religious fanatism is allready far beyond sanity

[properbollix]

this guy is a genius.

[whatnowho05]

Thank you Stumble

a little bit of enlightenment you have given me

[dannynavyboy1985]

I agree with Szasz on the point of ADD, I believe it is an alternative form of behaviour. In our aim to explain everything as being not the fault of an individual we invent diagnoses for socially unacceptable behaviours. However, I don't think this conjecture of Szasz's is equally applicable to all psychopathologies. For example, I believe schizophrenia is an illness and I believe there is massive quantities of evidence to support that belief. None but the most fanatical could argue it is not.

[hivplus]

ADD is hard not to have when its so easy to stumble youtube for four hours but hard to get to work on a school essay

[alejandroga666]

"The modern scientific consensus is that the mind is a property or process of the brain and therefore of the physical body. The burden, critics charge, is therefore on skeptics such as Szasz to explain what special property of the mind would give it immunity to the kind of biochemical imbalances and disruptions that are known to afflict every other part of the human organism." Touchè Mr. Szasz

[aigphoto]

On the contrary, the onus is upon those who claim to "treat" such "imbalances" to identify them, develop objective tests for them, and show that they actually exist. Then the responsibility becomes to demonstrate that the proposed treatment actually treats the objectively identifiable pathology. Currently there is no such identifiable pathology, so any claims of treatment are de facto fraudulent.

[DataRelater]

Then let psychiatrists show how ADHD is caused by too much Chemical A, while schizophrenia is caused by too little Chemical B, and paranoia is caused by too much Chemical C.

Dr. Szasz' point is that no scientific tests correlate to the manifestations. Ergo, prescribing something to "cure" or "treat" them is guesswork.

Occasionally people improve under psychiatric medications.

Sometimes they commit suicide, kill 15 classmates or drown their kids.

Taking that risk is what's crazy.

[senorvergara]

Good fucken point. Thanks for being intelligent.

[whiff1962]

That is a gross simplification of the richness of Szasz's critique. Much of the critique leveled by Szasz(et. al.) not only questions the means by which mental illnesses are invented (lets be honest, many are, sans hard science), but the institutions that exist to perpetuate the psychiatric status quo, invariably doing much harm in seeking to cure society's "mentally ill"

[CunningSoapMan]

Perhaps labeling such things as ADD "disease" can have negative effects. But at the same time, it is valid in that it identifies an unadaptive trait in the human mind. Now, this isn't to say that we should drug up everybody so that they're exactly the same; I'm just saying that it's utterly asinine to simply dismiss ADD and its medications for reasons such as Szasz's. ADD, depression, bipolar disorder, etc. all represent neurological imbalances, and it's often necessary to medicate them.

[aigphoto]

Szasz's point is that behaviors are a sociological phenomenon, not pathology. The myth of "imbalances" is that they exist. The fact is that no study exists that shows either what a "balance" is, or what an "imbalance" is. If there were, there would be objective tests that could determine the imbalance, just as objective tests exist that show adrenal or liver or pancreatic dysfunction.

[whiff1962]

His historical analysis of mental illness is very Foucaultian in many respects.

[whiff1962]

and it's often necessary to medicate them: Really? At all costs?

Now, this isn't to say that we should drug up everybody so that they're exactly the same: That is not only unlikely, but almost in complete contradiction to your above cut and pasted statement. Oh, yes, when you say unadaptive, do you not see how potentially loaded this word is? Who decides what is and is not adaptive in our culture? Yes, that's right, and therein lies the danger.

[tellyontellyon]

Sexual Aversion Disorder is a 'disease' according to the DSM4. It MUST be caused by faulty seratonin levels, as it can be helped by giving anti-depressants... The fact that the drugs help PROVES that the seratonin level etc. in the brain is too low right?!

But,, um? Giving alchohol also 'cures' this problem... So does that mean that 'Sexual Aversion Disorder' is caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain's alchohol levels?

The 'science' of psychiatry is based on the same reasoning.

[seemehaha]

WRONG. religion is the source of all of the worlds problems, violence, and hate.

[CunningSoapMan]

And you're BOTH wrong. Psychiatry obviously has its problems, as does religion; however, there is no single source of all evil, of all problems, of all hatred, violence etc., apart from basic human nature.

And referring to psychiatry as a pseudoscience is ignorant, I must say. It follows by the scientific method, and while the psychiatric industry may have bad intentions, psychology as a science (one of which it is) has uncovered many secrets which can be used to unite us as a species.

[aigphoto]

The first thing we were taught in the first class in psychology 101 was this: There are no actual scientific data in the field of psychology because no-one has ever replicated anyone else's experimental results. The second thing we were taught was that psychiatry isn't even that good: they don't do experiments; they just publish theories which no-one tries to validate. Over the years, I've never seen anything in the literature to contradict those two assertions.

[lupischuck]

Just because it's not a disease doesn't mean drugs can't help. Mental disorders are just that, disorders of the brain. The brain runs on chemicals and electrical impulses. Tell me that drugs don't directly effect both chemicals and electrical impulses. I'm not saying that it's right to always pump people full of drugs, but I am saying that this guy is full of shit.

[pureaggression]

Hush, you are incompetent.

[merwinjr]

Psychotropic drugs, given to children, that are stimulants to control behavior, that have a plethora of side effects, that should be controlled by parents...

Yes the brain runs on electrical impulses, but it is parenting that can help develop what "impulses" a child has... Very sad the state of your mentality.

[CunningSoapMan]

I find it sad that you feel that a parent can directly control the behavioral tendencies of his or her child. Certainly, a parent is a strong influence. However, a parent is by no means whatsoever the only influence in a child's life. Even if the parents were the only outside influence, because the inner workings of the child's brain, regardless of upbringing, will instinctively have their own tendencies.

[seemehaha]

lupis isn't arguing whether it is right or wrong to use drugs, rather that they do have an effect on the brain, thus on mental state. This is true.

[sparklyone]

His fallacies underwhelm me.

[travisnielsen]

one can be underwhelmed and overwhelmed... but can one be simply whelmed? :-|

[littlebear1963]

After searches of the Commission for violations of psychiatry against Human Rights Association (KVPM) alone in the U.S. and Europe during the period of three years, 44 suicides, 7 stillbirths and 44 more deaths were associated with the medicament Strattera that is used for the treatment of ADHD.

[littlebear1963]

Nach Recherchen der Kommission für Verstöße der Psychiatrie gegen Menschenrechte e.V. (KVPM) wurden allein in den USA und in Europa im Zeitraum von drei Jahren, 44 Selbstmorde, 7Todgeburten sowie 44 weitere Todesfälle im Zusammenhang mit dem ADHS-Mittel Strattera bekannt.

[genelawdog]

You are so full of hate you hear nothing but he sound of the empty lies in your head and the bullshit you read to reaffirm your narrow viewpoint. I am not the one crying, it is you with your pathetic denial of true historical facts that is doing all the crying. There are enough survivor accounts and pictures to affirm the truth of the holocaust . I am done with you so I won't reply to anymore of your Bull. By the way I suppose we do agree on something. Dr Szasz is right about ADHD.

[genelawdog]

What I don't get about you people who deny historical truths is that on one hand you deny the holocaust, then one the other use degrading language to describe people you hate.

'Kike Vermin"??? It is you are are attacking me for responding to your distorted view of history. Is "fuck you" the best you can do? History is what it is, I can't rewrite it to suite my point of view I just try to learn as much as possible so we don't repeat the mistakes of the past.

Open your mind dude!

[genelawdog]

If you were a Nazi performing what you know damn well is not only a war crime, but a crime against humanity, would you document it by taking pictures or film it? " The greatest struggle is not against ignorance, but against illusion. Ignorance is the absence of knowledge, but illusion assumption of knowledge even in it's absence." Malcolm X Ignorance can be overcome through education, good luck , and peace to you.

[genelawdog]

In response to "fuckjewtube88." There is a wealth of historical evidence to fully support that the Nazi Holocaust happened. Listen to a survivor, visit the many memorials, go see for your self the German death camps. But here is the problem with you "fuckjewtube88"... no matter how much evidence is presented before you to the contrary, you will deny it because it doesn't conform to your viewpoint. Therefore you will never learn because you have closed your mind. I feel sorry for you! Peace

[whovian1971]

Have a good life, moron!

[whovian1971]

Yep, I think the holocaust happen, Mien fuhrer. I also believe dinosaurs lived millions of years ago and that homeopath doesn't work. I'm totally crazy!

[whovian1971]

No, you ACTING crazy makes me win the "debate"! I don't get paid to post my opinion on you tube. If you really believe that I do then you're quite delusional! I don't have any vested interest in this other than the love of the truth. Coming from some who claims I"doesn't give a fuck about rights" but admires Nazism is an utter fucking JOKE!

[whovian1971]

Nothing moron. Why would you believe that someone who disagrees with you is being paid to do it? What a moron! Did the voices in your head tell you to say that?

[whovian1971]

"What exactly is your expertise in psychiatry?"

What's yours, motherfucker? None? Oh ok shut the fuck up then! Most Psychiatrists think Thomas szasz is full of crap. Why is the scientific consensus about the biochemical cause of mental illness wrong and Thomas Szasz right?

"Are you a professor like he is?"

Are you? I don't seem to see any indication that you have even a good working knowledge about the subjects your ramble on about!

[whovian1971]

"Dont be so quick to insult him, you might find yourself reading his books in a few years time when someone you know or you yourself are diagnosed with a mental ilness."

I've already read his books. And I was diagnosed with Major Depression in 1987. I tried to hang myself with a power cord. Of course I'm taking a combination of Trazodone, L-tryptophan and bacopa right now. Thomas Szasz is full of crap!

[whovian1971]

Repeating your fallacious arguements over again doesn't make them anymore true the second time! YOU get a life!

[whovian1971]

"What exactly is your expertise in psychiatry?

Are you a professor like he is? Have you written 22 incredibly well selling books on the subject like he has"

So has Johnathan wells, of course he's a deluded and dishonest about evolution as Thomas Szasz is about Psychiatry

"Face it. You dont know what youre talking about. All you want is attention, thats why you make theese provocative posts. Try getting a life."

Try looking in the mirror, all those statement apply to in spades, dumbass!

[GurnSi]

Per PubMed, BIPOLAR may be a cynical fraud+hoax to explain justify excuse encourage: cruel vindictive unreasonable immoral antisocial deceitful selfish irrational vicious self-centered boastful vile/evil behavior+lies, to get kicks/sympathy/drugs/attention /welfare. Shrinks collaborate. WARNING: If bad luck brings a bipolar to you: save time, money, grief, your own sanity - RUN! Now. Shun them forever. You can't fix them; they are hooked on being how they are. Find folk worthy of your kindness.

[Cretiere11]

Depression is real. it is not behavior. it is a chemical imbalance, etc.

[01234V43210]

This man is amazing. I was on antidepressants for years that made my life hell. Studies have shown that most antidepressants INCREASE suicidal tendencies by around 70% in patients. This is well-known. People can be forcibly interred in mental hospitals. Many years ago, I was imprisoned in one for depression. I wasn't a danger to anyone, and all of my freedoms were stripped from me. I had less freedom than a violent criminal, as I was FORCIBLY DRUGGED. Psychiatry is a scam.

[whovian1971]

This man is amazing. I was on antidepressants for years that made my life hell. Studies have shown that most antidepressants INCREASE suicidal tendencies by around 70% in patients

Nope, they don't. They don't increase suicidal behavior in 70% of patients. Utter Utter LIE!

[darkwindmill]

No wonder,the sect which belives in mind whased aliens claims that mental illness does not exist.

And as a hungarian I only feel shame and pity.

Szégyen, és kár, hogy pont egy magyarral mosatják az agyát a sok kerge szekta tagnak....

[gtdias]

shut up

[andieboye]

so simple, so clear.

Catch,

andieboye

[maryconlonmaddock]

Thank you Thomas Szasz for speaking the truth fearlessly. You have helped many psychiatric survivors to find their freedom. We will continue to spread the truth in this dark world of coercive psychiatry aided by the pharmaceutical industry, which continues to destroy so many of us. Humanity is a precious gift to be cherished and nourished. We cannot be defined. We just want to BE.

[poodle245]

It is really good to see someone who is a psychiatrist take a real look at this profession and what they do to our kids. I work in drug rehab and see the victims over and over. Kids that never had a chance because they were put on ritalin when they were small and then when taken off it went straight to street drugs. Thanks Dr. Szazs!!!

[TheOxygenBandit84]

I applaud this video. Good work Dr. Szasz.

Although I don't agree necessarily that ADHD doesn't exist, I believe there can be issues with neural communication and etc... but I don't believe that amphetamines is a way to treat it as they are dangerous, and often perscribed on a diagnosis that is based on no physical evidence.

I have heard of cases where schools have forced parents to drug their children for ADHD, so they could attend class. I understand they can be challenging but this is sick!

[rotothirteen]

Some psychologists just hate psychiatry. They're weird like that.

[biglizard45]

Kinda hurts when the truth comes out....finally!

By the way Narconon Saved my life...and without psychiatric drugs!

Lizzy

[biglizard45]

roto wrote me:

"My god, you're an idiot. I guess I can expect as much from a heroin addict. You'd have to be a pretty big moron to get into that crap in the first place. So yeah, you go on and pretend to know what you're talking about. Dare to dream, dumbass."

I see your a psychiatrist, or in trainig...you got the bedside manner...STRAP HIM DOWN...DRUG HIM... ELECTRIC SHOCK HIS ASS...NOW CUT HIS BRAINS! Damn heroin addict! You keep goin there roto youll get you degree someday! Narconon Rocks

[gepo01]

What is narconan? By your answer it seems that u need to get some more of it to get your head right

[biglizard45]

This from a sock puppet?

Lizzy

[nicolaslevine]

Don't you think his accent is wonderful?

Most importantly, though, he is saying very intelligent things.

[chocotofu3]

But what about things like Bulimia and Anorexia, which scarcely existed before 40 or 50 years ago. Are those not diseases then?

[triplex173]

It is a pattern of behavior, not a mental disorder like depression, anxiety, or bipolar.

[chocotofu3]

I myself have bulimia, and often it feels like something I have no control over. I feel like it started as a behavior but then evolved into disease...

But I'm no psychiatrist. You're probably right.

[sleeprollercoaster]

It is a mental illness, which is why it is in the DSM-IV for diagnosis criteria. I highly doubt you're a psychologist or have taken any courses yourself to know about it. Don't talk about what you know nothing about. Eating disorders are mental illnesses characterized by the patterns of behavior but have a mental origin as to why that certain pattern of behavior spawned. Read up before you start trying to educate people about things you're not educated about.

[hayria123]

if what you said about eating disorders are true the in fact all behavior can be classified as mental illness

[misstiggykins]

triplex173, as someone who suffered (yes, suffered - badly) from anorexia nervosa (AN) for nearly 30 years and is now recovering with help and advice from an excellent psychiatrist I would say that AN IS a mental illness. Patterns of behaviour are more easily broken. Unfortunately the media has given many people the impression that AN is a self-inflicted, lifestyle choice, but if it were so the behaviours would be easy to abandon. I didn't remain anorexic through choice (CONT).

[misstiggykins]

I tried on numerous occasions to recover, but found I couldn't without severe panic and suicidal impulses. AN is a complex illness which is also physiologically driven - by starvation per se, which alters mood. My AN was a reaction to trauma and totally unrelated to vanity. Psychiatry worked because I was taught how to manage anxiety through self-affirming, rather than self-destructive means. As my physical health improved, so too did my mood and my ability to look after my own health.

[THE1CALLEDJ]

ADHD is a natural reaction to a humans environment. It is most common in industrialized nations. ADHD is not found in the third world and has not been a problem until recent times. This is because our lives in these industrialized nations are constantly bombarded with a variety of information. People in these industrialized nations are constantly trying to multi-task in the third dimension in which we live. How can you say you brain isn't trying to do the same thing in your head.

[Deliciapoops]

People with these new 'diseases' dont realize that they are caused by behavioral patterns and health choices. Its like blaming the big mac for making you fat when you eat it, yet you continue to eat it and drink your diet coke, or go home and take a diet pill. How do you treat an internal deficiency with an external stimulus, and expect your body to naturally create more of the chemical you are forcefeeding it? It seems more likely to me that youre only damaging your bodys own system.

[TomDG88]

This man is an asshole, I am currently on medicine for ADHD and I couldn't function well without it.

[redzion28]

Define function.

[whovian1971]

I think you define "asshole"!

[Erudite777]

I agree, I have Adult ADHD and fuckign hate when people thinks ADHD is not real. The problem is that fucking moron Doctors diagnose every fucking kid that misbehave with ADHD and that is bullshit. ADHD is fuckign real, is hard as fuck to focus, you get distracted easy, you can't sit still. Is like a TV changing channels but you have no remote to control it. Having ADHD sucks ass but at the same time it has given me more abilities than normal people don't have. My life is never boring thanks ADHD

[dominikjacobs]

Good point. When my mother figured I had ADHD (back then, it was called MCD), she bought me a skateboard. I don't think Ritalin could ever have done as much for my concentration and focus as skateboarding did. In skateboarding, you get hurt if you don't pay attention, so it teaches you how to do it.

I agree that life is never boring with ADHD.

[sesau1]

Hurray!!!! I love this man. I think we should get rid of the drug commercials like we did the cigarette commercials.

[Decipi91]

This is a great summary of my views on psychiatry

does anybody know where I can see this whole speech and more speeches by this gentleman?

Perhaps even a transcript of this speech for purposes of sharing with mentors and teachers?

[Galenskapt]

I think he's right about psychiatry taking advantage over people to sell drugs, but I still think that real mental illness exist.

You can't argue that it doesn't, if you do then you've lived sheltered as hell...

[sRowTL985]

Great debate.

[eleivadainculo]

Well... so is schizophrenia not a disease? What about depression?

Drug addictions are impossible to diagnose using x-rays or other physical measurements: are they no diseases either?

I think he is going a little bit too far...

[rKos]

Maybe you should read a bit more about Szasz.

[beintelegant]

Marvellous words - and they contain deep truth - it is our duty as parents to engage with our children not evade them, right?

[kavansa]

Excellent

[heartfelthope]

Thanks as well for your video. Wake up people quit being robots and listen to your children and love them.

[LadyGodivaBlues]

Great video. Let's pass this on for all to see!!

[Greenfir]

Thank you for this video. Thank you Dr. Szasz for telling the truth.