Szasz in the 21st Century. 5. Szasz Under Fire (2004). Inner Circle Seminar 140 (17 May 2009)

Thomas Szasz
Photograph by Steve Peters
Syracuse NY, April 2008

Thomas Szasz
in the 21st Century

5. Szasz Under Fire:
The Psychiatric Abolitionist Faces His Critics (2004)

Anthony Stadlen
conducts
Inner Circle Seminar No. 140
Sunday 17 May 2009
10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Reflection on the philosophy of psychotherapy is an urgent necessity. The survival of true psychotherapy is threatened by state regulation. Too few psychotherapists have insisted, with Thomas Szasz, that ‘mental health’ is a metaphor. It is therefore not surprising that the Government plans to regulate psychotherapy as a ‘health profession’. The Inner Circle Seminars, however, seek to clarify psychotherapy as a moral, not a medical, practice.

Thomas Szasz remains the world’s foremost moral and existential philosopher of psychiatry and psychotherapy. He has already conducted two Inner Circle Seminars, and will conduct another for his 90th birthday (15 April 2010), 50 years after ‘The Myth of Mental Illness’ (1960). By then he will have published at least ten books since the millennium. We are studying each in turn, and aim to catch him up in time for his own 90th birthday seminar. Today we discuss his fifth 21st–century book, edited by Jeffrey Schaler: Szasz Under Fire: The Psychiatric Abolitionist Faces His Critics (2004). Your contribution to the discussion is welcome. Each seminar is self-contained. You may attend any or all.

Venue: Durrants Hotel, 26–32 George Street, Marylebone, London W1H 5BJ
Cost: Students £96, others £120, in advance; bursaries; mineral water, coffee, tea, biscuits, liquorice allsorts included
Apply to: Anthony Stadlen, ‘Oakleigh’, 2A Alexandra Avenue, London N22 7XE
Tel: +44 (0) 20 8888 6857 E-mail: stadlen@aol.com

For further information on seminars, visit: http://anthonystadlen.blogspot.com/

 

The Inner Circle Seminars were founded by Anthony Stadlen in 1996 as an ethical, existential, phenomenological search for truth in psychotherapy. They have been kindly described by Thomas Szasz as ‘Institute for Advanced Studies in the Moral Foundations of Human Decency and Helpfulness’. But they are independent of all institutes, schools and colleges.