In this seminal work, Dr. Szasz examines the similarities between the inquisition and institutional psychiatry. His purpose is to show “that the belief in mental illness and the social actions to which it leads have the same moral implications and political consequences as had the belief in witchcraft and the social actions to which it led.”

The idea of "insanity" pervades every aspect of our daily lives. Here, Szasz contends that the term actually functions as a euphemism for problems in living, as an excuse for crime and misbehaviour, as a stigma for invalidating adversaries - and, generally, as a metaphor and legal fiction.

Human behaviour, which holds a fascination for most people, can best be viewed as lying on a spectrum - from normality at one end to extreme deviation at the other, with obvious grey areas in-between. Even the most deviant-seeming behaviours appear to have their counterparts in normality, and such behaviours can often be explained (at least in part) when viewed in their socio-cultural and psychological context.