Is there such a thing as mental illness?

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Hungarian-American psychiatrist Thomas Szasz argues there is no such thing as mental illness. Is he and his ilk right?

There is such a thing as mental illness

Pro

• Argument for Mental illnesses are recognized as medical illnesses by a range of reputable sources.
  • Objection That does not provide a substantive proof or analysis, merely an argument from authority.
• Argument for Some behaviors are obviously deranged enough as to count as diseased/ill, whether the cause is a brain disease or something else.
  • Objection That does not substantiate the claim that there exist distinct well-defined disease entities in the field of human behavior, analogous to medical diseases (being distinct entities) such as cancer and its forms, virus-caused disease or bacteria-caused disease.
    • Objection The existence of distinct entities is not the motion, merely that some people are mentally ill.
• Argument for Whatever kind of entities the so-called mental illnesses are, the fact that the symptoms respond to medication suggests they are medical illnesses/diseases.
  • Objection Anyone emotionally disturbed by adverse events in life is expected to have the behavior modified when given major tranquilizers (also known as antipsychotics), but that does not prove there is an illness.
  • Objection Emotional and cognitive states are modified in response to alcohol intake, but that does not mean that these pre-alcohol-intake states are an illness and alcohol is a medicine.

Con

• Argument against There is no such thing as mental illness per Thomas Szasz..
  • Objection That is not a specific argument.
    • Objection The arguments are as if included by reference.

Further reading

• No such thing as mental illness? Critical reflections on the major ideas and legacy of Thomas Szasz by Tony B. Benning, 2016, nih.gov
• Does ‘Mental Illness’ Exist? by Lucy Johnstone, 2019, iai.tv
• Is mental illness really an illness? | Science Questions with Surprising Answers by Christopher S. Baird, 2024, wtamu.edu
• The Lying Truths of Psychiatry by Thomas Szasz, 1979