Suicide Prohibition: The Shame of Medicine

Title Page, Copyright

uicide t h e s h a m e o f m e d i c i n e rohibition Thomas Szasz Syracuse University Press Copyright © 2011 by Syracuse University Press Syracuse, New York 13244-5290 All Rights Reserved First Edition 2011 11 12 13 14 15 16 6 5 4 3 2 1 ∞ The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1992. For a listing of books published and distributed by Syracuse University Press, visit our Web site at SyracuseUniversityPress.syr.edu. ISBN: 978-0-8156-0990-2 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Szasz, Thomas Stephen, 1920– Suicide prohibition : the shame of medicine / Thomas Szasz. — 1st ed. p. ; cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-8156-0990-2 (cloth : alk. paper) I. Title. [DNLM: 1. Suicide—prevention & control—United States. 2. Suicide— psychology—United States. 3. Health Policy—United States. 4. Personal Autonomy—United States. 5. Suicide—ethics—United States. WM 165] LC-classification not assigned 616.85'8445—dc23 2011032776 Manufactured in the United States of America Nothing is so firmly believed as what is least known. —Michel de Montaigne (1533–92) Thomas Szasz is a Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry at the State University of New York Upstate Medical University in Syracuse. The author of more than six hundred articles and thirty-three books, he is widely recognized as the leading critic of the coercive interventions employed by the psychiatric establishment. ...