Rhetoric and Psychiatry: Persuasive Components of an Alleged Medical Science

Session Submission Type: Seminar

Abstract

The confluence of Rhetoric and Psychiatry has been evident for decades, largely through the work of psychiatrist Thomas Szasz. Dr. Szasz through over 50 books and nearly one thousand articles, reviews and letters has maintained that the field of psychiatry has through rhetorical strategies medicalized the human condition and recategorized human problems and unusual and/or untoward actions as illnesses to be treated and cured, sometimes forcibly. This seminar analyzes his claims and arguments against them.

Sub Unit

• Seminars

Session Organizer

• Richard E. Vatz, Towson University