Conversations in Critical Psychiatry by the psychiatrist Awais Aftab brings together an edited selection of interviews published in the Psychiatric Times from 2019 to 2022, updated with new and previously unpublished material (including a foreword by Sir Robin Murray). These interviews explore critical and philosophical perspectives in psychiatry by engaging with prominent commentators within and outside the profession who have made meaningful criticisms of the status quo. They advance our understanding of psychopathology and offer a pluralistic vision of psychiatric practice.
Conversations in Critical Psychiatry was published in the UK on September 20, 2024, and is scheduled for print publication in North America on December 20, 2024. Both eBook/kindle and print versions are available for purchase in Europe. It is currently available for purchase as an eBook/Kindle in the US, and pre-orders for the print edition are open.
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The volume includes interviews with many leading scholars such as Allen Frances, Anne Harrington, Paul McHugh, Nassir Ghaemi, Dainius Pūras, Joanna Moncrieff, Jonathan Shedler, Sanneke de Haan, Nev Jones, and Kenneth Kendler, among others. The discussions cover a wide array of philosophical, clinical, and scientific topics and present a sweeping overview of psychiatry’s relationship to critique. A detailed introductory essay ‘Psychiatry and the Critical Landscape’ offers a synthesis of themes and makes the case for mainstream psychiatry to embrace the critical tradition, while urging critical psychiatry to engage with a philosophically informed view of psychiatric science. Given the accessible and rigorous nature of these conversations, this book will be of interest to academics, clinicians, students, service users, and general readers alike.
Features of the book:
- Foreword by Sir Robin Murray
- A detailed introductory chapter, "Psychiatry and the Critical Landscape," (along with commentary by Sandra Steingard)
- Edited and updated interviews
- Previously unpublished interviews (including interview of Awais Aftab by Richard Gipps and Nev Jones)
- Every interview comes with reading recommendations to enhance educational value and facilitate use in teaching
- Relevant materials such as book reviews assembled in an appendix
Table of Contents
Foreword by Sir Robin Murray
Preface - Awais Aftab
1. Psychiatry and the Critical Landscape - Awais Aftab
2. Commentary on Integrative Critical Psychiatry and Psychopharmacology - Sandra Steingard
Psychiatry at Crossroads
3. Diagnosing Psychiatry: Allen Frances
4. Integrating Academic Inquiry and Reformist Activism in Psychiatry: Sandra Steingard and G. Scott Waterman
5. The Impoverishment of Psychiatric Knowledge: Giovanni Andrea Fava
6. Phenomenology, Power, and Polarization: Nev Jones
Disorder and Diversity
7. Skepticism of the Gentle Variety: Derek Bolton
8. The Neurodiversity Paradigm in Psychiatry: Robert Chapman
9. A Kantian Approach to Psychiatric Diagnosis: Sam Fellowes
History and Philosophy of Psychiatry
10. The Structure of Psychiatric Revolutions: Anne Harrington
11. Psychiatric Disorders as an Imperfect Community: Peter Zachar
12. Beyond Pragmatism in Psychiatry: S. Nassir Ghaemi
Enactivism and Psychiatry
13. Sense-Making and the Enactive Turn in Psychiatry: Sanneke de Haan
14. 3E Approach to Psychopathology: Kristopher Nielsen
Pluralistic and Integrative Psychiatry
15. Explanatory Methods in Psychiatry: Paul R. McHugh
16. Weaving Conceptual and Empirical Work in Psychiatry: Kenneth S. Kendler
17. From Classic and Critical to Integrative Psychiatry: Dan J. Stein
Psychiatric Institutions and Human Rights
18. Institutional Corruption and Social Justice in Psychiatry: Lisa Cosgrove
19. Global Psychiatry's Crisis of Values: Dainius Puras
Critical Psychiatry Network
20. Critical and Relational Psychiatry: Duncan Double
21. Psychiatry and the Human Condition: Joanna Moncrieff
22. Psychiatry and the Shores of Social Construction: Sami Timimi
Psychoanalysis
23. Psychoanalysis and the Re-Enchantment of Psychiatry: Jonathan Shedler
Psychiatry and the Medical Model
24. The Battle for the Soul of Psychiatry: Ronald W. Pies
25. The Medical Model in Theory and Practice: Ahmed Samei Huda
26. Psychiatry and the Long View: Paul Summergrad
Critical Neuropsychiatry
27. Social Constructionism Meets Aging and Dementia: Peter Whitehouse
Epilogue
28. The Politics of Conceptual and Critical Psychiatry: Awais Aftab interviewed by Richard G. T. Gipps and Nev Jones
Appendix:
a) Book reviews
b) Psychiatric Psychodrama