Ellis vs. Szaz - Grade: A PDF

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This is a debate paper where you must pick a stance on mental illness....

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Does mental illness exist? This debate has separated the world of Psychology for many decades. This debate climaxed whenever there was a debate between two renowned Psychologists; Albert Ellis and Thomas Szasz. While Ellis claimed that mental illness was in every way true, Dr. Szasz claimed that it was nothing more than a myth. This was a rather old film that reflected what many Psychologists were disagreeing on at the time. Although I am sure more evidence has shown up in the past few years to support the existence of mental illness within society.

The point Szasz made was that once somebody was diagnosed with a mental illness; everything they do from that point on is labeled as “crazy”. No matter how small the action performed or how minor an incident is; it all relates to what the individual has been declared as. Dr. Brian Deery informed my Abnormal Psychology class about an experiment performed where many individuals were purposely admitted into a Psychiatric Facility and acted completely normal. This resulted in everything they did from that point on being referred back to the mental illness which they did not truly possess. This backs up what Szasz was saying to back up what he believed.

Ellis claimed that “Dr. Szasz foolishly insists that involuntary commitment of an individual is never allowable, no matter how dangerously psychotic that individual may be.” Meaning that Ellis claimed that a person will only act out by receiving some sort of “free ticket” to do so by being diagnosed with something that does not exist. Another point he made was that Szasz “Contends that just as slaves only exist when there is slavery, schizophrenia only exists if there are psychiatrists.” Ellis uses this to make a point that mental illness isn’t something totally made up. He claims that it even existed whenever nobody knew it existed, unlike Szasz; who claimed that it only recently came up once certain actions gave people certain labels.

I personally believe mental illness does exist, even though, in my eyes, Szasz won the debate. There is so much evidence in the world to support the existence of mental illness. For example; the minds of serial killers. Of course, you cannot truly box all of them into one category. Psychopaths come in many shapes and sizes throughout the world. Some believe it is done in self-defense, others enjoy making others suffer before the life is drained from their eyes, and certain killers have a cannibalistic nature in which they believe that they need to kill in order to survive. Sometimes there are humans with an inborn need to kill other human beings. It is a drive they feel in which murder is the only resort to find their version of inner-peace. The path to darkness is usually paved with good intentions. Some killers believe what they are doing is the right thing while others do it simply for the sake of being evil.

This is only one example of mental illness. The subject is neither constricted nor limited to serial killers. People also have a mental illness which is confined in sexual urges. Rapists and pedophiles have their own form of being mentally ill. A couple of cases I have personally read into about rape involved younger gentlemen forcing sexual intercourse upon older women who were between the ages of sixty and ninety. I personally feel as though this isn’t entirely about a sexual appetite to have intercourse. It almost seems like this is entirely about control. Like some sort of mental trauma from the individual’s

early life had caused them to feel the need to abuse others sexually to feel like they are in a twisted form of power.

While rape seems to be about control over the other person; pedophilia appears to be more about sexual attraction. Pedophiles feel some sort of attraction towards the unattainable youth that they find “pure”. It somewhat blends with the Psychology of wanting what you cannot have. The additional mental illness in this is believing that children can consent to sexual activities, when in reality, they cannot.

Mental illness can spread into many varieties. Rather than asking the question “What is abnormal?” perhaps we should ask “What is normal?” Once we truly analyze this question, we can understand the mind of the mentally ill under a new light. To be “normal” is to be socially acceptable in an environment. When we look at Amish people, us living in modern society might label them as abnormal. When in reality, they simply decided not to conform with the rest of civilization. Amish live with the belief that during the period of 1835 to 1850 had the perfect amount of technology; not too much and not too little. However, to them, we probably seem even more abnormal in their eyes when you look at the downward spiral that our culture is going with media, war, crime, etc.

So while mental illness exists, in my opinion, the real question is how to determine who truly possesses this disorder. The reason that I feel Szasz won the debate is because he was more calm and professional than Ellis with his presentation and beliefs on the issue. Ellis could’ve presented more evidence on his side of this issue to show that mental illness was a real thing. However, he did agree with Szasz to a certain extent, as do I.

When we take an outward look at ourselves and then compare to the rest of the civilizations in the world, we can see some key differences in how we live our lives. There are cannibalistic cultures in South America filled with people that eat other human beings. Does this mean that each and every one of those people are mentally ill? Or could it be that a mentally ill leader influenced a completely sane society to convert into their way of thinking? When you look at who is truly pulling the strings, you can see where the influence on people gets its hold on power. Such as when Adolf Hitler came into power in Germany to get Nazi soldiers to perform crimes that no sane person would do willingly and on their own. When you give up your independence and free will to a corrupt government; you will do dark deeds that you would never imagine you would do in your entire life.

Therefore, the question shouldn’t be if mental illness exists, it should be determining who possess it. I have determined that mental illness cannot be based solely on actions, but on the motives of those who performed the action. They key to finding out if an individual has mental illness or not is to penetrate their psyche and understand how their mind works. Once you are able to do that; perhaps you will meet somebody mentally ill face-to-face, be able to look into the eyes of that person and see a psychopath....