December 1979, Vol 36, No. 13 >

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Article | December 1979

In Defense of Szasz: The Case for Medical Realism

Jerry S. Cohn, MD

Arch Gen Psychiatry. 1979;36(13):1461. doi:10.1001/archpsyc.1979.01780130079009.

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To the Editor.— After pointing out a few fallacies associated with the Szaszian notion of disease, Pies, in his article "On Myths and Countermyths: More on Szaszian Fallacies" (Archives 36:139-144, 1979), goes on to add some fallacies of his own.It is fallacious to equate popular usage with theoretical meaning. For example, the term "work" has different meanings in physics and everyday life. Similarly, the medical concept of "disease" is embedded in a scientific theory and must be distinguished from its extrascientific, evaluative usage. In his article, Pies makes the interesting historical observation that it is an etymological fact that the word "pathology" originated from a word that means "suffering" (p 143), but to argue on this basis for an equation of disease and suffering is not only a logical error but an opening for the kinds of diagnostic abuses that treat all kinds of unhappiness as disease.It is

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Cohn JS. In Defense of Szasz: The Case for Medical Realism. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 1979;36(13):1461. doi:10.1001/archpsyc.1979.01780130079009.

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