On Legal Abuses of Psychiatry

Dr. Thomas S. Szasz, in his latest essay into the abuses of psychiatry, considers what he calls the psychiatric denial of the right of trial: the procedure by which the accused is denied trial on the grounds of mental incompetence.

It is Szasi s contention that the relationship of psychiatry to authority is much too close, and that this results in a serious threat to individual liberty. When a man is labelled “crazy,” his denial is often taken to demonstrate the severity of...