Philosophy of Psychiatry

Against the dogma that mental disorders are diseases, this Element argues that mental disorders are biological kinds with harmful effects.

Jonathan Y. Tsou (Author)

9781108706667, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 22 July 2021

86 pages
22.8 x 15 x 0.5 cm, 0.13 kg

'Tsou covers an amazing amount of ground with great clarity. The book will profit individuals with little background in philosophy of science or psychiatry and will benefit specialists given Tsou's distinctive thesis. It is no small thing to provide both a useful primer for non-specialists while at the same time making a novel and attractive contribution to the understanding of mental illness.' Mark Tully, The Journal of Value Inquiry

Jonathan Y. Tsou examines and defends positions on central issues in philosophy of psychiatry. The positions defended assume a naturalistic and realist perspective and are framed against skeptical perspectives on biological psychiatry. Issues addressed include the reality of mental disorders; mechanistic and disease explanations of abnormal behavior; definitions of mental disorder; natural and artificial kinds in psychiatry; biological essentialism and the projectability of psychiatric categories; looping effects and the stability of mental disorders; psychiatric classification; and the validity of the DSM's diagnostic categories. The main argument defended by Tsou is that genuine mental disorders are biological kinds with harmful effects. This argument opposes the dogma that mental disorders are necessarily diseases (or pathological conditions) that result from biological dysfunction. Tsou contends that the broader ideal of biological kinds offers a more promising and empirically ascertainable naturalistic standard for assessing the reality of mental disorders and the validity of psychiatric categories.

1. Introduction
2. Skepticism about Biological Psychiatry
3. Defining Mental Disorder
4. Natural Kinds in Psychiatry
5. Psychiatric Classification and the Pursuit of Diagnostic Validity
6. Conclusion.

Subject Areas: History of science [PDX], Philosophy of science [PDA], Psychiatry [MMH]