Suicide in anti-psychiatry and in psychoanalysis

Abstract

In psychiatry, the criteria by which the need for psychiatric attention is evaluated are often the object of disagreements, thus bringing to the fore debates regarding the validity of the concept of mental illness. Whereas anti-psychiatrists, such as Szasz (1961), argue against the prevention of suicide, Freud (1915) describes a case of melancholia that would justify psychiatric intervention in suicidal individuals. In this article, I examine these arguments and argue that Freud's account of melancholia puts Szasz's position into question.

Attention – Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in Psychiatry and Psychoanalysis

“…Fulford argues that the mentioned demarcation criterion is the failure of intentions and actions, and, because of that, a breakdown of rationality is seen. "He claims that one who is mentally ill fails to act harmoniously with his intention and suffers from that" ( [32], p.397): "I did not want to have done it, I do not know why I did it".…”

“…Freud strongly remarks this point when he says, for example, at the end of Elizabeth's case [36] that the psychopathology depends much less on personal and volunteer factors than we could think of. With the Freud's subversive cuts on all and any of literature about an alleged rationality of actions based on a conscious intention, and, because of that, about a psychopathology based on a breakdown of racionality, and, consequently, on a failure of this intention [32], "we can effectively call the argument given by Fulford, namely, the failure of intention in mental illness, into question since Freud's argument implies the presence of an unconscious intention" ( [32], p.401).…”