Module Code

IL002 - Level 5 (Intermediate)

IL102 - Level 6 (Third year/Finalist)

Module Convenor

Dr. Vivan Joseph

When/Where

Term 1 (Autumn)
Time: Tuesday 14:00 - 16:00

R0.12(Ramphal Building, Main Campus)

OR

Term 2 (Spring)
Time: Tuesday 14:00 - 16:00

FAB5.03(Faculty of Arts)

Interactive campus mapLink opens in a new window

Assessment

15 CATS:

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 over a quarter of the population of Britain will experience a mental health problem. 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 that a psychiatric diagnosis with an associated physical component (e.g. a difference in brain activity detectable in scans, or an associated drug treatment), is somehow legitimised by that physical component. 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.

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 preparation (including reading) in advance of each week's session. You may also want to discuss the content and reading with others in your group. Lecture content 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 some key moments in the history of mental health from the twentieth century.
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 explanation that a purely biomedical approach provides.
6. Interdisciplinary Academic Writing Workshop and essay planning (and - if time allows - film and depictions of mental disorder).
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:

Please select IL002-15 Level 5 (Intermediate)Link opens in a new window

Please select IL102-15 Level 6 (Third Year / Finalist)Link opens in a new window

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.

Find out how this module relates to IATL strategy

Consider showcasing and celebrating your work. See our Assessment Exhibition Link opens in a new windowfor inspiration!