Thomas Szasz
was a prominent figure in the antipsychiatry movement, known for his critique of the moral and scientific foundations of psychiatry. He believed that mental illnesses are better understood as problems in living rather than medical diseases and was a staunch opponent of coercive psychiatric treatment. He was however, NOT antipsychiatry. Szasz’s view on psychiatry was that it often functions as a mechanism of social control, labelling individuals who deviate from societal norms as “ill” and subjecting them to involuntary treatments.