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Thomas Szasz
From Citizendium, the Citizens' Compendium
Thomas Szasz, around 2005.
Thomas Szasz is Professor of Psychiatry Emeritus at the State University of New York Health Science Center in Syracuse, New York, Adjunct Scholar at the Cato Institute, Washington, D.C., as well as an internationally acclaimed author and lecturer. His classic monograph The Myth of Mental Illness made him a figure of international fame and controversy. Many of his works, such as Law, Liberty, and Psychiatry, The Ethics of Psychoanalysis, Ceremonial Chemistry, and Our Right to Drugs, are regarded among the most influential works of the 20th century by leaders in medicine, law, and the social sciences.
Szasz is a leading voice in the anti-psychiatry movement, and continues to advocate his belief that psychiatry is a tool of social manipulation and control, rather than a necessary treatment modality.
Background
Born in Budapest in 1920, Szasz migrated to the US in 1938 from his native Hungary, and within a few months was admitted to the University of Cincinnati. After graduating with honors in Physics in 1941, he entered the College of Medicine of the University of Cincinnati and earned his M.D. degree in 1944. Later, Szasz took his psychoanalytic training at the Chicago Institute for Psychoanalysis and for the next five years was a member of its staff. During that time he took 2 years out for active duty with the U.S. Navy. A Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and a life member of the American Psychoanalytic Association, Szasz has published frequently in leading medical, psychiatric, and psychoanalytic journals.
