Thomas Szasz

Thomas Szasz was a man who thought that people should be able to make their own choices about their mental health. He believed that mental illness was not a real sickness, like a cold or a flu. Instead, he said that it was just a way that some people acted or felt, and that these people needed help dealing with their emotions and thoughts instead of being told they were sick.

To give an example, think about a person who is very sad all the time. Some people might say that this person has depression, which is a mental illness. But Mr. Szasz would say that this person is just going through a difficult time and needs support and encouragement to get through it. He would not say that they have a sickness that needs to be cured with medicine.

Mr. Szasz also believed that doctors and therapists sometimes used mental illness as an excuse to control people who were different from others or who behaved in ways that were not considered "normal." He thought that this was wrong, and that everyone should be allowed to be who they are without being told that they are sick or need to be "fixed."

In short, Mr. Szasz believed that mental illness was not a sickness in the same way that a cold or a flu is. He thought that people should be able to make their own choices about their mental health and that doctors and therapists should not use illness as an excuse to control people's behavior.