The philosophical defence of psychiatry

New York: Routledge (1991)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

Psychiatry is plagued with philosophical questions. What is a mental illness? Is it different from brain disease? Is there any objective way of determining whether behaviors such as criminal activity are mental illnesses? Should we explain "abnormal" behavior by reference to psychological forces, learning processes, social factors, or disease processes? This book aspires to answer these and other questions. Broadly divided into two halves, the first analyzes the arguments of psychiatry's critics and covers the philosophical ideas of such thinkers as Freud, Eysenck, Laing, Szasz, Sedgewick, and Foucault. The second aims to provide a resolution to the problems raised in the first half by establishing a philosophical defense of the theory and practice of psychiatry. Dr. Reznek's stimulating work is the first to provide a comprehensive philosophical account of the main issues in psychiatry, including free will and responsibility, the excusing power of mental illness, and involuntary hospitalization.

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 90,593

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

Critical psychiatry: the limits of madness.D. B. Double (ed.) - 2006 - New York: Palgrave-Macmillan.
Why psychiatry is a branch of medicine.Samuel B. Guze - 1992 - New York: Oxford University Press.
Creating mental illness.Allan V. Horwitz - 2002 - Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Medication of the mind.Scott Veggeberg - 1996 - New York: H. Holt.
Binary Oppositions in Psychiatry: For or Against?Matthew Ratcliffe - 2010 - Philosophy, Psychiatry, and Psychology 17 (3):233-239.
The reality of mental illness.Martin Roth - 1986 - New York: Cambridge University Press. Edited by Jerome Kroll.

Analytics

Added to PP
2009-01-28

Downloads
86 (#180,416)

6 months
5 (#246,492)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Citations of this work

Feminism, Underdetermination, and Values in Science.Kristen Intemann - 2005 - Philosophy of Science 72 (5):1001-1012.
Illness as unhomelike being-in-the-world? Phenomenology and medical practice.Rolf Ahlzén - 2011 - Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy 14 (3):323-331.
Epidemic Depression and Burtonian Melancholy.Jennifer Radden - 2007 - Philosophical Papers 36 (3):443-464.
ADHD drugs: Values that drive the debates and decisions. [REVIEW]Susan Hawthorne - 2007 - Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy 10 (2):129-140.

Add more citations

References found in this work

No references found.

Add more references