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It is unfortunate that when the article in the July 17 issue tracing the history of homosexuality in the DSM mentions Drs. Green, Marmor, and Spiegel, it does not include the name of Dr. Thomas S. Szasz. Dr. Szasz decried the psychiatrization of homosexuality long before his colleagues.
The entire subject of the conversion of homosexuality from heresy to disease was examined in his book The Manufacture of Madness: A Comparative Study of the Inquisition and the Mental Health Movement published in 1970. Additionally, the 1965 book Sexual Inversion: The Multiple Roots of Homosexuality, which was edited by Dr. Marmor, states, "Most of the psychoanalysts in this volume, except Szasz, are of the opinion that homosexuality is definitely an illness to be treated and corrected."
Isn't it about time that the practice of excluding mention of Dr. Szasz in psychiatric publications was abandoned?
Donal T. Conley, M.D.
St. Augustine, Fla.