On the notion of mental illness - Tommy Svensson

This study inquires into some theoretical controversies concerning the concept of mental illness. The author takes his point of departure in the intense debate on psychiatry of the 1960s and 70s. Important theoretical dimensions of that debate are analyzed with special focus on the polemics surrounding Thomas Szasz?s criticism of psychiatry and the mental illness concept. The analysis is then developed further by taking into account recent developments in the philosophy of medicine. A theoretical line of criticism of the notion of mental illness is tested against two elaborate and articulate medical models with regard to their application to abnormal behaviour and mental afflictions. Some ideological aspects of the concept of mental illness are also brought up for discussion. The author concludes that the medical-model conception of mental illness phenomena, contrary to the predominant opinion, still appears problematic from theoretical points of view.