The Myth of Mental Illness: Foundations of a Theory of Personal Conduct^[1] is a 1961 book by Thomas Szasz, who questions psychiatry's foundations and argues against the tendency of psychiatrists to label people who are "disabled by living" as mentally ill.

Szasz writes that he became interested in writing The Myth of Mental Illness in approximately 1950, when, having become established as a psychiatrist, he became convinced that the concept of mental illness was vague and unsatisfactory. He began work on The Myth of Mental Illness in 1954, when he was relieved of the burdens of a full-time psychiatric practice by being called to active duty in the navy. Later in the 1950s, the book was rejected by the first publisher to whom Szasz submitted the manuscript. Szasz next sent the manuscript to Paul Hoeber, director of the medical division of Harper & Brothers, who arranged for it to be published.^[2]

Szasz argues against the tendency of psychiatrists to label people who are "disabled by living" as mentally ill.^[3] He believes that it does not make sense to classify psychological problems as diseases or illnesses, and that speaking of "mental illness" involves a logical or conceptual error.^[4] In his view, the term "mental illness" is only an inappropriate metaphor and there are no true illnesses of the mind.^[5] His position has been characterized as involving a rigid distinction between the physical and the mental.^[4]

The legitimacy of psychiatry is questioned by Szasz, who compares it to alchemy and astrology,^[6] and argues that it offends the values of autonomy and liberty.^[7] Szasz believes that the concept of mental illness is not only logically absurd but has harmful consequences: instead of treating cases of ethical or legal deviation as occasions when a person should be taught personal responsibility, attempts are made to "cure" the deviants, for example by giving them tranquilizers.^[4] Psychotherapy is regarded by Szasz as useful not to help people recover from illnesses, but to help them "learn about themselves, others, and life."^[5] Discussing Jean-Martin Charcot and hysteria, Szasz argues that hysteria is an emotional problem and that Charcot's patients were not really ill.^[3]

The Myth of Mental Illness is a well known argument against the tendency of psychiatrists to label people who are "disabled by living" as mentally ill.^[3] The book received much publicity and quickly became a classic.^[5] The Myth of Mental Illness was published at a vulnerable moment for psychiatry, when Freudian theorizing was just beginning to fall out of favor and the field was trying to become more medically oriented and empirically based. The book provided an intellectual foundation for mental patient advocates and anti-psychiatry activists. It became well known in the mental health professions and was favorably received by those sceptical of modern psychiatry, but made Szasz an enemy of many doctors.^[6] Soon after The Myth of Mental Illness was published, the Commissioner of the New York State Department of Mental Hygiene demanded, in a letter citing the book, that Szasz be dismissed from his university position because he did not accept the concept of mental illness.^[2]

Philosopher Karl Popper, in a 1961 letter to Szasz, called the book admirable and fascinating, adding that, "It is a most important book, and it marks a real revolution."^[8] Psychiatrist David Cooper writes that The Myth of Mental Illness, like R. D. Laing's The Divided Self (1960), proved stimulating in the development of anti-psychiatry, though he notes that neither book is itself an anti-psychiatric work. He describes Szasz's work as "a decisive, carefully documented demystification of psychiatric diagnostic labelling in general."^[9] Philosopher Michael Ruse, in his Homosexuality: A Philosophical Inquiry (1988), calls Szasz the most forceful proponent of the thesis that mental illness is a myth, but while expressing some sympathy for Szasz, suggests that he over-states his case. Ruse criticizes Szasz's arguments on several grounds, maintaing that while the concepts of disease and illness were originally applied only to the physiological realm, they can properly be extended to the mind, and there is no logical absurdity involved in doing so.^[4]

Peter Breggin sees The Myth of Mental Illness as a seminal work.^[7] Cultural historian Richard Webster notes in Why Freud Was Wrong (1995) that some of Szasz's arguments are similar to his, but that he disagrees with Szasz's view that hysteria was an emotional problem and that Charcot's patients were not genuinely mentally ill.^[3]

• Text of the original paper The Myth of Mental Illness