Nature and Narrative: An Introduction to the New Philosophy of Psychiatry (International Perspectives in Philosophy & Psychiatry) - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0198526113 ISBN 13: 9780198526117

Publisher: OUP Oxford, 2003

Synopsis

Nature and Narrative is the launch volume in a new series of books entitled International Perspectives in Philosophy and Psychiatry. The series will aim to build links between the sciences and humanities in psychiatry.

Our ability to decipher mental disorders depends to a unique extent on both the sciences and the humanities. Science provides insight into the 'causes' of a problem, enabling us to formulate an 'explanation', and the humanities provide insight into its 'meanings' and helps with our 'understanding'. Psychiatry, if it is to develop as a balanced discipline, must draw on input from both of these spheres.

Nature (for causes) and Narrative (for meanings) will help define the series as a whole by touching on a range of issues relevant to this 'border country'. With contributions from an international star-studded cast, representing the field of psychiatry, psychology and philosophy, this volume will set the scene for this new interdisciplinary field.

This will be of interest to all those with practical experience of mental health issues, whether as providers or as users/consumers of services, as well as to philosophers, social scientists, and bioethicists.

About this title

Review

This is a challenging and fascinating work. It offers the start of a conversation about the peril of taking issues of meaning for granted in psychiatry and does so in a manner that manifests the potential wealth in an ever broadening dialogue of biological and cultural science and the humanities. (The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disorder, Vol 194, No 1)

As might be expected, this book is full of ideas, vibrant with rhetoric and debate, and always lively. Philosophy is like argument, most of all with each other, and argument is almost their evidence base . . . It all makes for an excellent read . . . What is clear from this book is that philosophy is clearly on its way back into psychiatry and cannot be ignored. This is but the first of a series on international perspectives in philosophy and psychiatry and my prediction is that philosophy will continue to be . . . part of empirical psychiatry. (JNNP)

. . . the majority of the chapters are useful and absorbing from both an intellectual and a practical point of view . . . overall this is a highly successful first venture for the new series. Several of the issues raised are fundamental to the humane practice of psychiatry and should be part of any training curriculum . . . this book would repay reading by anyone in the mental health field who has a curiosity about conceptual issues and who is prepared to question ideas and assumptions which are so often taken for granted in our work. (Journal of Consciousness Studies, Vol 11, No 5-6)

Edition details

• Publisher: OUP Oxford
• Publication date: 2003
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0198526113
• ISBN 13: 9780198526117
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 306
• Editor: Fulford Bill, Morris Katherine, Sadler John Z., Stanghellini Giovanni