In this iconoclastic book Thomas Szasz claims that the classification of psychotherapy as medical treatment is an illogical and immoral practice that has had disastrous economical and existential consequences.

Szasz traces how modern scientific medicine has come to encompass what is in reality a “spiritual” cure into the realm of medical practice. He claims that what was once regarded as the cure of (sinful) souls has been changed into the cure of (sick) minds. Proposing that psychotherapy be returned to its original place as a “talking cure,” he says, “There is no such thing as psychotherapy. It is only a name used for people speaking and listening to each other. By calling some types of encounters psychotherapy, we only impede our capacity to understand them.”