Thomas Szasz The Myth Of Mental Illness

It has been debated among philosophers whether or not mental disorders should be considered mental disorders or not. Philosophers Hanna Pickard and Thomas Szasz are famously known for believing mental disorders are “myths” due to their reliance on societal norms, that is not necessary for physical disorders. Others, such as Jerome Wakefield see this reliance on societal norms as simply one component of what makes a disease a disease. By applying Wakefield’s theory of disease to the mental disorder Obsessive-compulsive disorder, and conceding and refuting possible objections to this application, I will attempt to show that some mental illnesses are indeed real diseases. Jerome Wakefield invokes a hybrid approach to disease classification,

He claims that they are simply “problems in living” (Szasz 45). Yet, Szasz also claims that if a mental disorder can be described by scientific terms, then it must count as an illness. Consequently, Szasz would be forced to accept that OCDD is in fact a disease. Nonetheless, philosopher Hanna Pickard takes Szasz’z claims that mental illness is a myth a step further by claiming that mental illnesses are not a “scientifically valid category” (Pickard 83). In her article, Pickard lists “considerations” to determine the scientific validity of a category. From these considerations one might pose objections to my claim that OCD would qualify as a disease. The first objection I will attempt to refute is that OCD is not a scientifically valid category because it does not have a discriminant function. In the case of OCD, there are many instances where OCD is accompanied by some varying degree of anxiety disorder, as would be expected for an anxiety disorder. If this is the case, one may argue that, as in the case with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, the two exist on a continuum and OCD, as a result, is not a natural kind. While it may appear that the two situations are similar at first glance, this does not seem to hold up upon further inspection. In the case of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, the two disorders seemingly exist in conjunction with one another; it is very difficult to determine where one begins and the other ends. Conversely, in the case of OCD and anxiety, the two disorders behave on a more cause-and-effect basis. By observation, the degree of anxiety experienced typically is directly correlated with the severity of the OCD symptoms. The severity of the symptoms is seen to be correlated with the degree of malfunction in the