Module description
This module in the philosophy of psychiatry will critically appraise several main approaches to the concept of mental disorder. First, the critiques of mainstream psychiatry, beginning in the 1960s and still current, mainly to the effect that normal distress or social deviance is being inappropriately pathologised; second, conceptualisations of mental disorder in the standard psychiatry diagnostic manuals of the World Health Organisation and the American Psychiatric Association; and third, ‘naturalist’ approaches to the definition of mental disorder that invoke population statistical or evolutionary theory based norms. Distinctive features include coverage of various approaches to this multi-faceted problem. Learning objectives include understanding contemporary controversies about the nature and extent of mental disorder, conceptualisations used in mainstream psychiatry, and theoretical definitions in terms of human nature.
Assessment details
Summative assessment: 1 x 3,500-word essay (100%)
Formative assessment: 1 x 2,000-3,000 word essay
Teaching pattern
One one-hour weekly lecture and one one-hour weekly seminar over ten weeks.