Psychiatric Slavery

By Thomas Szasz

Book Overview

In this short work, Dr. Szasz takes aim at conventional psychiatry, and at the attendant system of courts, hospitals, and psychiatrists who confine patients against their will. The focal point is a Supreme Court case involving a man forcibly committed to a Florida asylum for 14 years. In refuting the widely held notion that the Donaldson case represents an advancement in the rights of mental patients, Dr. Szasz has put the American legal establishments on trial.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0815605110
• ISBN13: 9780815605119
• Release Date: April 1998
• Publisher: Syracuse University Press
• Length: 188 Pages
• Weight: 0.56 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 5.5" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

Points out many inconsistencies regarding the Donaldson case

In his book, Psychiatric Slavery, Szasz makes the comparison of involuntary institutionalization and slavery. The book primarily discusses the case of Kenneth Donaldson, which was a Supreme Court case on the right of treatment. The book discusses the various briefs of the case, elaborating on various issues.Donaldson was institutionalized because he told his parents that the neighbors were trying to poison him. Although his parents sent him to an asylum for this, Donaldson maintained he was not mentally disturbed. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) assisted Donaldson in attempting to gain his freedom, but in a bizarre way. Although Donaldson wanted nothing to do with medication and shock therapy, he sued the hospital director because he was not receiving treatment. From the data presented, I got the impression that the ACLU used Donaldson for their own ends, which was to strengthen the power of psychiatry.