Abstract

The Disordered Mind, Third Edition is a wide-ranging introduction to the philosophy of mental disorder or illness. It examines and explains, from a philosophical standpoint, what mental disorder is: its reality, causes, consequences, compassionate treatment, and more. Revised and updated throughout, the third edition includes enhanced discussions of the distinction between mental health and illness, selfhood and delusions about the self, impairments of basic psychological capacities in mental disorder and the distinct roles that mental causation and neural mechanisms play in mental illness. The book is organized around four questions: What is a mental disorder or illness? What makes mental disorder something bad? What are various mental disorders and what do they tell us about the mind? What is mental health and how may it be restored? Numerous disorders are discussed including: addiction, agoraphobia, delusion, depression, dissociative identity disorder, obsession-compulsion, schizophrenia, and religious scrupulosity, among others. Several neurological disorders are examined. Various problems associated with DSM-5 and with psychiatric diagnosis are explored. Including chapter summaries and suggestions for further reading at the end of each chapter, The Disordered Mind presupposes no special background in philosophy, and as such will be of interest to those in related disciplines such as psychology, psychiatry and mental health, and professions such as nursing and social work.