Introductory description

On this module you will engage in a critical consideration of psychiatry and psychopathology (mental ill-health) drawing on a variety of perspectives. In the past this has included neuroscience, neuroimaging, psychiatry, literature, philosophy and history. A central aim of the module will be to describe and explore the tension between a purely neuroscientific conception of mental ill-health and the brain, and person-centred conceptions of mental ill-health and the mind. The module will be interdisciplinary and will draw on intellectual history, the history and sociology of medicine and psychiatry, psychology, neuroscience, philosophy and literature.

Module web page

Module aims

Outline syllabus

This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.

Each session will either take the form of a subject specialist delivering 60 minutes of discipline-centred material followed by a further 60 minutes of seminar, or have a more interactive structure throughout, with information being provided (as reading, shorter talks, film clips etc.) followed by small group and whole group reflection, analysis and discussion. In all cases, students and the module leader will develop the learning in an interdisciplinary way, focussing on ideas, issues and problems, and reflecting on and discussing the strengths and limitations of discipline-centred approaches with reference to the material presented, and set texts.

There will be an introductory and a concluding session with the Module Leader; there will also be additional time devoted to helping the students prepare for their assessments and presentations.

Structure of module by week (subject to availability of guest lecturers):

1. Introduction: including interdisciplinarity, assessments, Q&A and initial background.

2. Hallucinations and delusions: connecting mind and world; experiences of psychosis.

3. Neuroscience and mental health.

4. Shell shock to attachment: a selective history of mental health in the 20th century.

5. Understanding and explaining: using Karl Jaspers to link science to the arts.

6. Essay planning and film week.

7. Literature and mental health.

8. Narrative: the role of narrative in structuring our identity as a person.

9. Critical approaches: exploring criticisms of psychiatry.

10. Conclusion: reviewing what we have covered.

Learning outcomes

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

• Recognise and understand the way mental disorder has been viewed from non-academic perspectives (e.g. the patient's perspective), and use their understanding to critically interrogate academic/theoretical perspectives.
• Recognise, understand and use different ways of conceptualizing mental disorder and critiques of those conceptions (academic/theoretical perspectives), and develop their own understanding of mental disorder and related concepts.
• Imaginatively respond to dramatic stimuli (texts, films, ideas) to aid learning individually and as part of a group, and use their responses to initiate the formulation of questions for further research.
• Critically evaluate texts and other material with a comparative understanding of different disciplinary uses of evidence and argument.
• Critically reflect on their own and others’ experiences as participants in a creative and interdisciplinary learning process.
• Articulate arguments orally and through well-argued essay writing, supported by independent research using tools, resources and referencing material on research-related topics of interest outside the teaching environment.

Indicative reading list

John Bowlby, Attachment

Lisa Bortolotti, Delusions and Other Irrational Beliefs

Matthew Broome and Lisa Bortolotti (eds.), Psychiatry as Cognitive Neuroscience

Chris Frith, The Cognitive Neuropsychology of Schizophrenia

Linda Garro and Cheryl Mattingly (eds.), Narrative and the Cultural Construction of Illness and Healing

Erving Goffman, Asylums

George Graham, The Disordered Mind

Peter Halligan and John Marshall (eds.), Method In Madness

Sarah Kane Kane 4.48 Psychosis

RD Laing, The Divided Self

David Marr, Vision

Dominic Murphy, Psychiatry in the Scientific Image

Roy Porter, Mind-Forg’d Manacles

Elyn Saks, The Center Cannot Hold

Louis Sass, Madness and Modernism

Andrew Scull, The Most Solitary of Afflictions

Edward Shorter, A History of Psychiatry

Thomas Szasz, The Myth of Mental Illness

Angela Woods, The Sublime Object of Psychiatry: Schizophrenia in Clinical and Cultural Theory

Virginia Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway

Research element

All students will undertake an individual, supervised research-based essay. Students will work closely with the module convenor to formulate an agreed independent topic for research and will use research tools, resources, and reference material to produce an articulate and well-argued essay.

Interdisciplinary

The module leader will play an active role throughout the module, delivering most of the sessions, and facilitating sessions delivered by guest lecturers, to ensure the integration of module content around central themes.

The teaching and learning approach will be inherently interdisciplinary, making use of group work and discussions to facilitate analysis, synthesis and evaluation of ideas from different disciplines, including the different disciplines of each of the students. The active role students will play in discussions and presentations will help them analyse and evaluate ideas from different disciplines, and begin to synthesise that material in a way that transcends disciplinary boundaries. To compliment the interdisciplinary nature of the module, material will be presented in a range of formats (including film and audio clips, reading, and visual images).

Throughout the module, students will, as part of their assessment, reflect on all aspects of their experience, including: the experience of communicating and working with each other; the strengths and limitations of discipline-centred approaches, and bridging the divisions between their own diverse disciplinary backgrounds. The ongoing reflective component of the module will also afford them additional opportunities to analyse, evaluate and synthesise ideas from different disciplines.

Subject specific skills

• Recognise, understand and use different ways of conceptualizing mental disorder and critiques of those conceptions (academic/theoretical perspectives).
• Recognise and understand the way mental disorder has been viewed from non-academic perspectives (e.g. the patient's perspective).
• Understand and use elements of different disciplinary languages.
• Demonstrate an understanding of different disciplinary uses of evidence and argument.

Transferable skills

• Critical reflection and thinking
• Team working
• Analytical skills
• Cognitive flexibility
• Complex problem solving
• Judgement and decision making
• Written communication skills
• Verbal communication skills
• Management of learning
• Independent working skills
• Reasoning
• Research skills