Quotes from Thomas Szasz

The homosexual is a scapegoat who evokes no sympathy. Hence, he can only be a victim, never a martyr.

Mental illness, of course, is not literally a 'thing' - or physical object - and hence it can 'exist' only in the same sort of way in which other theoretical concepts exist.

Individual psychotherapy - that is, engaging a distressed fellow human in a disciplined conversation and human relationship - requires that the therapist have the proper temperament and philosophy of life for such work. By that I mean that the therapist must be patient, modest, and a perceptive listener, rather than a talker and advice-giver.

When a person can no longer laugh at himself, it is time for others to laugh at him.

It is easier to do one's duty to others than to one's self. If you do your duty to others, you are considered reliable. If you do your duty to yourself, you are considered selfish.

Knowledge is gained by learning; trust by doubt; skill by practice; and love by love.

Permissiveness is the principle of treating children as if they were adults; and the tactic of making sure they never reach that stage.

In the animal kingdom, the rule is, eat or be eaten; in the human kingdom, define or be defined.

Adulthood is the ever-shrinking period between childhood and old age. It is the apparent aim of modern industrial societies to reduce this period to a minimum.

Punishment is now unfashionable... because it creates moral distinctions among men, which, to the democratic mind, are odious. We prefer a meaningless collective guilt to a meaningful individual responsibility.

Doubt is to certainty as neurosis is to psychosis. The neurotic is in doubt and has fears about persons and things; the psychotic has convictions and makes claims about them. In short, the neurotic has problems, the psychotic has solutions.

The proverb warnes you'',''dont bite the hand that feeds you,''but maybe you should,''if it prevents you from feeding yourself.

If you have strongly held opinions, you are opinionated; if you don't, you lack conviction: either way, there is something wrong with you.

Anyone who seeks to help others—whether by means of religion or by means of medicine—must eschew the use of force.

Men are rewarded and punished not for what they do, but rather for how their acts are defined. This is why men are more interested in better justifying themselves than in better behaving themselves.

People often say that this or that person has not yet found himself. But the self is not something one finds. It is something one creates.

Permissiveness is the principle of treating children as if they were adults; and the tactic of making sure they never reach that stage.

Every act of conscious learning requires the willingness to suffer an injury to one's self-esteem.

The fact that physicians commit suicide more frequently than do lay persons ought to unmask their claims about suicide prevention as self-serving propaganda.

Incarceration in a mental hospital is unlawful deprivation of liberty, that mental illnesses are fictitious diseases, and that coercive psychiatry is social control, not medical care.

The insanity defense is not merciful. Involuntary mental hospitalization is not a treatment. Both are coercive methods of social control. Both rest on attributing an absence of mens rea to the actor. Both result in the protected person's being deprived of liberty. Both function as tactical weapons in psychiatry's war on dignity, liberty, and responsibility.

Ä°nsanlar; belli bir kiÅŸi, meslek ya da "dava"n?n hayranl?k uyand?ran özelliklerine –estetik, erotik, etik, entelektüel– vurulduÄŸumuz için â??k olduÄŸumuza inan?rlar. Daha s?kl?kla öbür türlü olur. Kendi sevgi ihtiyac?m?z, bir baÅŸka insana, misyona veya inanç sistemine yak?ndan baÄŸlanma ihtiyac?m?z yüzünden â??k oluruz.

The fact that atomic energy is used in warfare does not make international conflicts problems in physics; likewise, the fact that the brain is used in human behavior does not make moral and personal conflicts problems in medicine.

You have to know history to appreciate the absurdity of what is called the 'medical model', because it's simply absurd.