Module Code

IL002 Level 5 (Intermediate)

IL102 Level 6 (Year 3/Finalist)

Module Convenor

Dr. Vivan Joseph (IATL)

v.joseph.1@warwick.ac.uk

When/Where

Autumn Term or Spring Term

Assessment

2500 word essay (60%)

Reflective journal (1500 word selection) (40%)

What is the module about?

On this module students will engage in a critical consideration of psychiatry and psychopathology (mental ill-health) drawing on a variety of perspectives (including neuroscience, philosophy, history, literature and neuroimaging). A central aim of the module will be to describe and explore the tension between a purely neuroscientific conception of mental ill-health and the brain, and subject-centred conceptions of mental ill-health and the mind.

According to the mental health charity Mind, every year around a quarter of the population of England will experience a mental health problem each year (https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/types-of-mental-health-problems/mental-health-facts-and-statistics/Link opens in a new window). Despite being such a pervasive phenomenon, stigma, misunderstanding and ignorance are widespread. In the course of the module we will consider how changes in the way mental ill-health is studied and viewed can have wider effects. For example, people tend to think of mental disorders in biological terms (e.g. as changes to the brain) without always considering social and environmental aspects of mental disorders. This will be explored in relation to the creation of new diagnoses and the corresponding medicalization of areas of life. Given the influence of normative judgements on diagnosis, a background question is whether it seems plausible that even a neuroscience of the future will provide a complete picture of psychopathology.

The module aims to enable students to:

• Understand and use concepts from different disciplines that interface around psychopathology and mental health, and recognise the different uses of evidence and argument;
• Become aware of different ways of conceptualising mental disorder and the critiques of those conceptions;
• Acquire an appreciation of how mental illness has been viewed from a variety of perspectives;
• Critically reflect on the evolution of their own ideas, beliefs and values on psychopathology and on the experiences of people with mental ill-health;
• Communicate effectively with their peers and with academics and develop collaborative skills (across disciplines) of listening, giving and receiving feedback and achieving resolution;
• Articulate arguments orally and through well-argued essay writing, supported by wide reading and research.

What will the module cover?

The module will include content from the module convener and another contributor. This will be complemented by group work and discussions.

You will need to do the reading for each week before the session so you are able to contribute to discussions. Lecture slides and reading will be available via the module's Resources page (link at the top of this page).

The first session will provide introductory information and set the scene for subsequent sessions.

Indicative Program for 2024/25 (subject to change)

1. Introduction. Information about the module, interdisciplinarity and assessment. An introduction to some preliminary concepts.
2. Mind, world and mistakes. Hallucinations (perceiving something that isn't there) and delusions (a kind of irrational belief) can be characterised as mistakes of some sort: mistaken perceptions, mistaken thoughts and beliefs. But to see why they might be characterised as mistakes, we need to be able to contrast them with some account of properly functioning perception and thought. In this session we will look at ways of understanding perception and thought.
3. Neuroscience. Dr. Dawn Collins (Neuroscience, Warwick Medical School) will provide a comprehensive introduction to neuroscience and links to mental ill-health.
4. Shell shock to Attachment. A look at environmental factors (trauma and attachment problems) that could contribute to mental disorders in their historical (20th century) context.
5. Understanding and Explaining. Using Karl Jaspers' distinction between understanding and explaining, I will sketch an account of two different ways of making sense of mental ill-health. I will suggest a way in which the arts (e.g. literature and film) can help us make sense of mental ill-health that is - or could be - quite different from the kind of account that a purely biomedical approach provides.
6. Essay planning (and, if time allows, a little on film/movies).
7. Literature. In this session we will explore links between literature and mental ill-health.
8. Narrative. When things are going well for us, we usually have an account of how things have been for us, and how we hope things are going to be in the future - a narrative of some sort. How important is it to be able to fit experiences of mental ill-health into a narrative? In this session we will look at arguments for and against the importance of being able to construct a narrative, and the difficulties that might be raised by experiences of mental ill-health.
9. Critical Approaches to Psychiatry. Historically and more recently, mainstream psychiatry has faced opposition to its conceptions of mental ill-health, and its approaches to treatment. Recent critics have included the psychiatrists R.D. Laing and Thomas Szasz; current critics include psychiatrist Joanna Moncrieff and psychologist Mary Boyle. In this session we will try to arrive at a critique of some of these critical approaches.
10. Conclusion.

Learning Outcomes

See module catalogue [link to follow]

How to register

Complete our online form to request your place.

Once IATL have confirmed you have been allocated a place, follow your home department's procedure to register.

LINK TO ONLINE REGISTRATION FORM