Thomas Szasz o diagnostikování duševních nemocí, přepis

Thomas Szasz o diagnostikování duševních nemocí, přepis

Přepis části dokumentu „The Last Interview of Thomas Szasz“ z roku 2011.¹

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THOMAS SZASZ: How is cancer of the prostate diagnosed? How is anemia diagnosed? How is kidney failure diagnosed? How is a stroke diagnosed? By objective tests relying on chemistry and physics, on the basic sciences. Right?

PHILIP SINGER: Right.

SZASZ: How is schizophrenia and depression diagnosed?

SINGER: By external behavior.

SZASZ: Behavior!

SINGER: Right.

SZASZ: Complaints!

SINGER: Right.

SZASZ: Words! Words that one person says to another person.

SINGER: Right.

SZASZ: Now, as soon as schizophrenia and depression and post-traumatic neurosis and all of this specific diseases – and homosexuality, because that also used to be a mental illness, and masturbation, and escaped slaves – of course we don't have them anymore – as soon as all this mental diseases are diagnosed by objective, chemical and physical tests first…

SINGER: Before autopsy?

SZASZ: Before the person utters a word.

If you now… If an ordinary person now makes an appointment, with an internist, with a general physician, routinely before he sees a physician, the system, the medical system this physician is working in, will set up a laboratory appointment with him and he will have a panel of all kinds of chemical and hematological tests, two or three weeks – maybe an x-ray of the chest – two or three weeks before he ever sees the physician. And then he may have an EKG, he may have some other tests.

Now what is a physi… physician looking for? He's not talking to the person.

SINGER: Right.

SZASZ: He doesn't make a diagnosis from the fact that I feels… I don't feel well. I'm tired. I'm cold. I'm hot. All the… tho… those clues help. That's not the basis for his diagnosis. The basis for the diagnosis is an objective test. This is not the case in psychiatry.

 

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1) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhfex7hzc4Q

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