Psychiatric Slavery

By Thomas Szasz

Book Overview

In Psychiatric Slavery, Dr. Thomas Szasz delivers a powerful indictment of coercive mental health practices and their close ties to the American legal system. Challenging the widely held belief that the landmark Supreme Court case O'Connor v. Donaldson marked a victory for civil liberties, Szasz argues that it instead legitimized the state's power to confine individuals under the guise of psychiatric care.
Through rigorous analysis, Szasz reveals how courts, hospitals, and mental health professionals collaborate to strip citizens of autonomy, turning psychiatry into a tool of social control. At the heart of this work is the chilling story of Kenneth Donaldson, who was involuntarily committed to a Florida asylum for 14 years without meaningful treatment.
Provocative and uncompromising, Psychiatric Slavery forces readers to confront unsettling questions about freedom, justice, and the moral foundations of involuntary hospitalization.

• 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.