Thomas Szasz - The Use of Psychiatry as a Means of Coercion

Two lectures by Thomas Szasz recorded in November 2003:

- The Myth of Mental Illness: Past & Future

- The Therapeutic State: Past & Future

The lectures provide commentary on questions such as:

- Do the legal and medical practices in liberal democratic societies support and/or subvert the kinds of freedoms articulated in laws such as the First Amendment?

- Have liberal democratic societies such as the United States and Canada endorsed laws that give medical practitioners such as psychiatrists a reasonable amount of power to control the behavior of those who are viewed as mentally ill?

- Do the laws used to control the behaviors of those identified as mentally ill give too much power to psychiatrists?

- Is it wise for a society to use legally sanctioned medical practices as a means for dealing with and controlling behavior?

- What kinds of laws are necessary for guarding against and punishing dangerous deviant behaviors?

- Who should decide when a deviant behavior is dangerous?

- How can a society protect the rights of those people who are deviant, but not dangerous?

- Is psychiatry being used as a means for the social control of deviant behavior or is it a means for controlling illness?

- Should liberal democratic societies such as the United States have laws which deny adults access to drugs that an individual wishes to use?

Number of files: 2
Size: 120 MB
Run time: 2 x 1 hour, 30 minutes
Audio codec: mp3, 96 kbps, 48 kHz, mono, cbr
Source: DVD