Cruel Compassion: Psychiatric Control of Society's Unwanted
- ISBN-10
- 0815605102
- ISBN-13
- 9780815605102
- Category
- Law
- Pages
- 288
- Language
- English
- Published
- 1998-02-01
- Publisher
- Syracuse University Press
- Author
- Thomas Szasz
Description
Cruel Compassion is the capstone of Thomas Szasz's critique of psychiatric practices. Reexamining psychiatric interventions from a cultural-historical and political-economic perspective, Szasz demonstrates that the main problem that faces mental health policy makers today is adult dependency. Millions of Americans, diagnosed as mentally ill, are drugged and confined by doctors for noncriminal conduct, go legally unpunished for the crimes they commit, and are supported by the state - not because they are sick, but because they are unproductive and unwanted. Obsessed with the twin beliefs that misbehavior is a medical disorder and that the duty of the state is to protect adults from themselves, we have replaced criminal-punitive sentences with civil-therapeutic 'programs.' The result is the relentless loss of individual liberty, erosion of personal responsibility, and destruction of the security of persons and property - symptoms of the transformation of a Constitutional Republic into a Therapeutic State, unconstrained by the rule of law. Szasz shows convincingly that not until we separate therapy from coercion—much as the founders separated theology from coercion—shall we be able to get a handle on our seemingly intractable psychiatric and social problems. No contemporary thinker has done more than Thomas Szasz to expose the myths and misconceptions surrounding insanity and the practice of psychiatry. Now, in Cruel Compassion, he gives us a sobering look at some of our most cherished notions about our humane treatment of society's unwanted, and perhaps more importantly, about ourselves as a compassionate and democratic people.
Get the book
Similar books
-
Cruel Compassion: Insurrection Series Book 1
By A. E. KingShe wasn't supposed to open the door?
-
Cruel Compassion
By Peter MartensFotoboek in kleur door de fotojournalist van 1988.
-
The Psychology of Compassion and Cruelty: Understanding the Emotional, Spiritual, and Religious Influences
By Thomas G. Plante Ph.D.to show in his Empathy Imperiled: Capitalism, Culture, and the Brain,13 because these systems could not flourish in a culture where empathy and compassion are rife, their beneficiaries, consciously or not, strive to belittle these ...
-
Rising Shadows: A Dystopian Romantic Thriller
By A. E. KingOr will a handsome rebel overthrow her long held love?Rising Shadows is the second book in the Insurrection Series.
-
The Compassionate Temperament: Care and Cruelty in Modern Society
By Natan SznaiderThis text argues that it is the nature of modernity to foster compassion.
-
The Political Philosophy of Francis Bacon: On the Unity of Knowledge
By Tom van MalssenThis is arguably the most thoughtful, penetrating, and ultimately revealing book on Bacon ever written._ _ Svetozar Minkov, author of Francis Bacon_s _Inquiry Touching Human Nature_: Virtue, Philosophy, and the Relief of Man_s Estate
-
Providing Compassionate Healthcare: Challenges in Policy and Practice
By Robin Wynyard, Sue Shea, Christos LionisDeveloping a multi-disciplinary theory of compassionate care, and underpinned by empirical examples of good practice, this volume is a valuable resource for all those interesting in understanding and supporting compassion in health care, ...
-
Conspicuous Compassion: Why Sometimes it Really is Cruel to be Kind
By Patrick West"We live in an age of conspicuous compassion. We sport empathy ribbons, send flowers to recently deceased celebrities, weep in public over murdered children, apologize for historical misdemeanors, wear red...
-
Cruel Children in Popular Texts and Cultures
By Monica Flegel, Christopher ParkesWilde's parodic take on innocence in “The Devoted Friend” is complicated further through his depiction of the innocent complicity of young people in A House of Pomegranates. Wilde links “innocence” not solely to “goodness” in these ...
-
The Science of Evil: On Empathy and the Origins of Cruelty
By Simon Baron-CohenIn some cases, this absence can be dangerous, but in others it can simply mean a different way of seeing the world.In The Science of Evil Simon Baron-Cohen, an award-winning British researcher who has investigated psychology and autism for ...