This module explores the mutually illuminating interaction between psychiatry and phenomenological philosophy, focusing on both historical and contemporary work.
Occurrence | Teaching period |
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A | Semester 1 2023-24 |
Students will acquire an understanding of (a) phenomenological philosophy, (b) philosophical issues in contemporary psychiatry, and (c) how the work of phenomenologists (past and present) can be brought to bear in order to cast light on forms of experiences associated with various psychiatric diagnoses.
By the end of this module, students should:
Dialogue between phenomenological philosophy and psychiatry has a long history, dating back to Karl Jaspers’ 1912 adoption of ideas drawn from Edmund Husserl’s work. This module will explore the historical and ongoing relationships between phenomenology and psychiatry, focusing on how these relationships might facilitate mutual illumination.
Lectures will address forms of experience associated with psychiatric diagnoses such as schizophrenia, major depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder. In so doing, they will also address the following core themes: bodily experience; emotions, feelings, and moods; interpersonal relations; the sense of time; and the experience of possibility; the nature of delusions and hallucinations.
Lectures will be complemented by seminars, where there will be an emphasis on how one can do phenomenological research and make original phenomenological discoveries by studying experiences of psychiatric illness.
Task | % of module mark |
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Essay/coursework | 100 |
None
Task | % of module mark |
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Essay/coursework | 100 |
All feedback to be returned in line with current University and Departmental policy.
J. H. Van den Berg, J. H. 1972. A Different Existence: Principles of Phenomenological Psychopathology. Pittsburgh: Duquesne University Press.
R. D. Laing. 1960. The Divided Self: A Study of Sanity and Madness. London: Tavistock Publications.
M. Ratcliffe. 2008. Feelings of Being: Phenomenology, Psychiatry and the Sense of Reality. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
M. Ratcliffe. 2015. Experiences of Depression: A Study in Phenomenology. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
L. A. Sass. 1994. The Paradoxes of Delusion: Wittgenstein, Schreber, and the Schizophrenic Mind. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.