Experiences good and bad: an introduction to psychopathology, classification, and diagnosis for philosophers

Abstract

Abstract The chapter has two aims. The first is to give philosophers (or anyone with no background practical experience of mental distress and disorder) a taste of the more formal aspects of psy- chopathology and the classifications of mental disorder used by professionals working in mental health. The materials in this chapter, it should be said straight away, are perhaps more characteristic of medical, nursing, and psychological professional work, than, say, social work. The mater- ials, it is true, are the result of over a hundred years of careful observation and development of ideas (covered in detail in Parts II and III). All the same, just as the concept of mental disorder remains subject to widely different interpretations (the various ‘models’ we explored in Chapter 2), so the classification of these disorders—the particular ‘symptoms’ identified, the groups and classes and clusters into which they are drawn together—remain much debated. The whole enterprise of classification of mental distress and disorder is indeed challenged by some (see, e.g. Kutchins and Kirk, 1997). As with all the materials in this book, then, this chapter is presented, not as a reflection of a settled or final view, but as a focus for critical engagement and collegial development of ideas.