Secular humanism and "scientific psychiatry".

Full Abstract

ABSTRACT

:
The Council for Secular Humanism identifies Secular Humanism as a "way of thinking and living" committed to rejecting authoritarian beliefs and embracing "individual freedom and responsibility ... and cooperation." The paradigmatic practices of psychiatry are civil commitment and insanity defense, that is, depriving innocent persons of liberty and excusing guilty persons of their crimes:
the consequences of both are confinement in institutions ostensibly devoted to the treatment of mental diseases. Black's Law Dictionary states:
"Every confinement of the person is an 'imprisonment,' whether it be in a common prison, or in private house, or in the stocks, or even by forcibly detaining one in the public streets." Accordingly, I maintain that Secular Humanism is incompatible with the principles and practices of psychiatry.

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Author information

Author/s: Szasz, Thomas (T);

Affiliation: Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry, SUNY Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, New York, US. TSZASZ(-atsign-)aol.com.

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article

Journal: Philosophy, ethics, and humanities in medicine : PEHM (Philos Ethics Humanit Med), published in England. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2006-; vol 1 (issue 1) : pp E5

Dates: Created 2006/06/29; Completed 2007/01/23; Revised 2008/11/20;

PMID: 16759353, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 12/26/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Behavior Control - ethics
Coercion
Commitment of Mentally Ill - legislation & jurisprudence
Freedom
Humanism
Humans
Insanity Defense

Mental Competency
Mental Disorders - diagnosis; drug therapy
Mentally Ill Persons - legislation & jurisprudence
Psychiatry - ethics
Psychotropic Drugs
Secularism
United States

Associated Chemicals: Psychotropic Drugs (0)

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