Editing Thomas Szasz (section)

==Reception==

In the summer of 2001, Szasz took part in a [[Russell Tribunal#2001: On Human Rights in Psychiatry (Berlin)|Russell Tribunal]] on human rights in psychiatry held in Berlin between June 30 and July 2, 2001, and was part of the majority verdict which claimed that there was "serious abuse of human rights in psychiatry" and that psychiatry was "guilty of the combination of force and unaccountability".<ref name=Parker>{{cite journal|last=Parker|first=Ian|title=Russell Tribunal on Human rights in Psychiatry & "Geist Gegen Genes", June 30 – July 2, 2001, Berlin|journal=Psychology in Society|year=2001|volume=27|pages=120–122|issn=1015-6046}}</ref>

In 2005, [[Robert Evan Kendell]] presented a critique of Szasz's conception of disease and the contention that mental illness is "mythical" as presented in ''The Myth of Mental Illness''. Kendell argued that Szasz's conception of disease exclusively in terms of "lesion", i.e. morphological abnormality, is arbitrary and unsound, and his argument that "disease or illness can only affect the body" was based on [[Dualism (philosophy of mind)|Cartesian dualism]] which is already known to be medically inaccurate.<ref name="Schaler 2005">{{cite book |editor1-last=Schaler |editor1-first=Jeffrey |author=R. E. Kendell |title=Szasz Under Fire: The Psychiatric Abolitionist Faces His Critics |edition=1st |year=2005 |publisher=Open Court |location=Illinois |isbn=978-0812695687 |ol=17135675M |chapter=The Myth of Mental Illness |pages=29–48}}</ref>

In 2011, Szasz published an essay in recognition of the 50th anniversary of ''The Myth of Mental Illness'', which had been delivered as a plenary address at the 2010 International Congress of the Royal College of Psychiatrists in Edinburgh.<ref name="Szasz 2011">{{cite journal | last1 = Szasz | first1 = Thomas | title = The myth of mental illness: 50 years later | journal = The Psychiatrist | volume = 35 | issue = 5 | pages = 179–182 |date=May 2011 | doi = 10.1192/pb.bp.110.031310 | doi-access = free }}</ref> In the same issue, a response from [[Edward Shorter (historian)|Edward Shorter]] echoed Kendell's criticism and dismissed Szasz as largely premised on a conception of mind drawn from the psychiatry of the early-mid 20th century – namely [[Psychoanalysis|psychoanalytic]] psychiatry – which does not exist in the current disciplines of psychiatry or medicine.<ref name="Shorter 2011" /> Modern psychiatry has ''de facto'' dispensed with the idea of ''mental illness'', i.e. the notion that psychiatric disease is mainly or entirely [[Psychogenic disease|psychogenic]] and is not a part of biological psychiatry. To this extent, he said, Szasz's critique does not address contemporary biologically-oriented psychiatry, and is irrelevant.<ref name="Shorter 2011">{{cite journal | last1 = Shorter | first1 = Edward | title = Still tilting at windmills: Commentary on ... The myth of mental illness | journal = The Psychiatrist | volume = 35 | issue = 5 | pages = 183–184 |date=May 2011 | doi = 10.1192/pb.bp.111.034108 | doi-access = free }}</ref>

According to Williams and Caplan (2012), Szasz mostly influenced libertarians and the [[anti-psychiatry]] movement, with resultant devastating effects on those with severe mental illness, by promoting his "non-evidence based, philosophical foundation for the practice of mental health that prioritised the views and preferences of individuals with serious mental disorders above the true interests of a person not in the grip of mental illness". Considering that mental illness greatly contributes to homelessness and incarceration in the USA, they challenge whether "people with serious mental disorders who are confined to these settings [are] any better off than their pre-Szaszian predecessors who once filled asylums?"{{r|williams and caplan}}

===Awards===
Szasz received significant public recognition for his work, including:<ref name=Barker>{{cite journal|last1=Buchanan-Barker|first1=P|last2=Barker|first2=P|title=The convenient myth of Thomas Szasz|date=February 2009|volume=16|issue=1|pages=87–95|doi=10.1111/j.1365-2850.2008.01310.x |pmid=19192090|journal=Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing}}</ref>
* [[American Humanist Association]] Humanist of the Year (1973)<ref name=Humanist>{{cite web|title=The Humanist of the Year|url=http://www.americanhumanist.org/AHA/Humanists_of_the_Year|publisher=[[American Humanist Association]]|access-date=May 1, 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130114082408/http://www.americanhumanist.org/AHA/Humanists_of_the_Year|archive-date=January 14, 2013}}</ref>
* Award for Greatest Public Service Benefiting the Disadvantaged, an award given out annually by [[Jefferson Awards for Public Service|Jefferson Awards]] (1974)<ref name="Jefferson Awards">{{cite web|title=Greatest Public Service Benefiting the Disadvantaged|url=http://www.jeffersonawards.org/pastwinners/national|publisher=[[Jefferson Awards for Public Service]]|access-date=2 August 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101124043935/http://jeffersonawards.org/pastwinners/national|archive-date=24 November 2010|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* an honorary doctorate in [[behavioral science]] at [[Universidad Francisco Marroquín]] (1979)<ref name=Honorary>{{cite web|title=Honorary doctoral degrees|url=https://www.ufm.edu/index.php/Honorary_Doctoral_Degrees|publisher=[[Universidad Francisco Marroquín]]|access-date=May 1, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130112212149/https://www.ufm.edu/index.php/Honorary_Doctoral_Degrees|archive-date=January 12, 2013|url-status=live}}</ref>
* American Psychological Association division of Humanistic Psychology ''Rollo May Award'' (1998)<ref>{{cite web|title=Rollo May Award: Past Recipients|url=https://www.apadivisions.org/division-32/awards/rollo-may?tab=4 |website=Society for Humanistic Psychology}}</ref>
* The [[Center for Independent Thought]] established the Thomas S. Szasz Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Cause of Civil Liberties<ref>{{cite web|title=Past Szasz Award Winners|url=https://www.centerforindependentthought.org/past-szasz-award-winners |website=Center for Independent Thought}}</ref>