Mental Illness

Almost There: A Portrait of Peter Anton Cultural reproduction, attitudes, and meaning in the category of outsider art

by Field Notes: A Journal of Collegiate Anthropology

By Andrea Fritsch

Published in Field Notes: A Journal of Collegiate Anthropology 4(1): 87-105. (May 2012)
Copyright ©2012 by Field Notes: A Journal of Collegiate Anthropology

An analysis of the debate surrounding the art exhibit Almost There: A Portrait of Peter Anton at Intuit: The Center... more An analysis of the debate surrounding the art exhibit Almost There: A Portrait of Peter Anton at Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art in 2010 reveals sets of actors with competing interests and claims on the term outsider art. I explore the public fascination with madness and outsider art, suggesting actors engage outsider art in three attitudes—aesthetic, instrumental and investigative. Aesthetic attitudes operate within an expanded definition of official ‘Art’ that allows outsider artwork, but not the outsider artist, to participate in the reproduction of fine art conventions. Instrumental attitudes engage outsider artwork and perceptions of madness as forms of cultural and social capital in the Bourdieuian sense. The curators of Almost There operated with an investigative attitude, seeking to understand the social conditions influencing the artist as well as the artist’s sociality and intent. Investigative fields such as documentary production and psychiatry situate outsider art historically, as art practice, and subjective expression. I argue each attitude strategically engages the label of outsider art to both negotiate and question hierarchical relationships. The imperfect fit of the Almost There exhibit in the category of outsider art demonstrates the limitations of current conceptions of artistic merit and mental health.

Defining new frameworks for psychosocial intervention.

by Charmaine C. Williams

Factors associated with insight among outpatients with serious mental illness

by Charmaine C. Williams

Care: Giving, receiving and meaning in the context of mental illness

by Charmaine C. Williams

Le mal-être at-il un genre?

by Jean-Louis Pan Ké Shon

Enfermement et suicides au début du XXIe siècle.

by Jean-Louis Pan Ké Shon

Making sense of mental illness: the importance of inclusive dialogue

by Emma Lindley

De escarabajos y otros bichos: intimidades del paciente mental en los laberintos del capitalismo biomédico

by María Angélica Ospina

Published in: Revista Maguaré 25 (1), enero-junio 2011, pp. 241-276. Available in: http://www.revistas.unal.edu.co/index.php/maguare/article/viewFile/26768/27069

Resumen
El mercado global farmacéutico ha provocado en la actualidad una actitud distinta frente a la enfermedad.... more Resumen
El mercado global farmacéutico ha provocado en la actualidad una actitud distinta frente a la enfermedad. Médicos, enfermeros y terapeutas alópatas son hoy “ofertantes”, mientras sus pacientes se han convertido en “usuarios”, consumidores de bienes y servicios para aliviar su sufrimiento. El tratamiento de la enfermedad mental en el medio hospitalario no escapa de esta lógica mercantil de la biomedicina. A través de un relato etnográfico y de las narrativas de algunos pacientes institucionalizados, el artículo aborda algunas expresiones íntimas de la experiencia de la locura en el marco del capitalismo biomédico en Bogotá, Colombia.

Abstract
The global pharmaceutical market has given rise to a new and different attitude toward illness. Allopathic doctors, nurses, and therapists are now called “providers”, while their patients have become “users”, that is, consumers of goods and services aimed at relieving their pain. The treatment of mental illnesses in the hospital milieu does not escape this commercial logic of biomedicine. Through an ethnographic narrative and the stories of several institutionalized patients, the article addresses some of the private expressions of madness in the context of biomedical capitalism in Bogotá, Colombia.

KARL JASPERS' CONCEPT OF MENTAL ILLNESS AND CONTEMPORARY CLASSIFICATIONS

by Andrzej Kapusta

Fragment of my book Madness and Method, Lublin, 2010

Contents: Karl Jaspers’ Reflections on Illness. Mental Illness and Psychosis. The Concept of Mental Illness in Contemporary Classifications. Karl Jaspers and DSM. Jaspers’ Illnesses as Ideal Types (a Critique of Kraepelin). Jaspers’ Schemas and DSM. Phenomenological and Criteriological Diagnosis. Notes. Bibliography.

This chapter’s aim is to present the current discussion on the notion of mental illness. Contemporary psychiatric... more This chapter’s aim is to present the current discussion on the notion of mental illness. Contemporary psychiatric classifications and scientific (biological, psychological) analyses, in most cases, ignore the key dimension of the illness-related experience and do not perceive illness as a failure in everyday human activity.
A large number of theories try to combine the biological with the psychological, social-cultural or existential aspect. Jaspers, who spoke about the limits of understanding and the fundamental incomprehensibility of psychoses, demands that differential diagnosis should start with worlds of meanings. In the case of limited possibilities to interpret the contents and forms of mental expressions, he supports the search for biological defects in the disease process that is the base for the symptoms. Authors referring to the ideas of Merleau-Ponty – similarly to the author of General Psychopathology – also stress the human dimension of illness. However, giving a complete account of it, requires showing the corporal dimension of experience.

The miraculous in mental illness (Premodern, modern, and postmodern interpretations of the miraculous and mental illness from religious and psychological perspectives)

by Louis Hoffman

Marika Kurzenberger, co-author

Book chapter in J. H. Ellens (Ed.), Miracles: God, science, and psychology in the paranormal (Vol. 3, pp. 65-93). Book chapter in J. H. Ellens (Ed.), Miracles: God, science, and psychology in the paranormal (Vol. 3, pp. 65-93).

Factors influencing stigma A comparison of Greek-Cypriot and English attitudes towards mental illness in north London

by Chris Papadopoulos

Defining Severe Persistent Mental Illness

by Denise Torres

Torres, D. (2010). Defining serious mental illness: Implications for understanding, needs, and services. In Estrine, S. A., Arthur, H.G., Hettenbach, R.T., & Messina, M.G. (Eds.) (p.1-39). New Directions in Behavioral Health: Service Delivery Strategies for Vulnerable Populations. New York: Springer Publishing.

The persistence of “a tower of Babel” (Bachrach, 1988) regarding the definition of serious mental illness (SMI)... more The persistence of “a tower of Babel” (Bachrach, 1988) regarding the definition of serious mental illness (SMI) despite attempts at standardizing the term reflects its very political and social nature. Although definitional issues can appear abstract and an issue for researchers and academics, how serious mental illness is defined has real world impacts on program development and practice. As health and social service delivery incorporates the concept of recovery and related evidence-based practices (EBPs), program design and service delivery will need to fundamentally change. This chapter will review the history of the terms associated with SMI and discuss their implications for knowledge about consumers and their needs. The contentious history of the term will be used to discuss the concept of recovery, resistances to it, and the need to reformulate our understanding of SMI if we are to transform the mental health service delivery system.

Natural Medicine for Common Ailments

by Poppy Valentine

This is a collection of non-synthetic health tips for common illnesses. This is a collection of non-synthetic health tips for common illnesses.

Talk About the Mentally Ill: Collectivity Categorization and the Interactional Construction of &Quot; Deviance&Quot

by Timothy Halkowski

Representations of Mental Illness among the Tamil Community in Singapore

by Arthi

Unpublished PhD thesis, University of Cambridge, 2010

Representations of mental illness have long been the focus of academic inquiry. This thesis presents an exploration of... more Representations of mental illness have long been the focus of academic inquiry. This thesis presents an exploration of lay understandings of mental illness within the minority Tamil community in the Southeast Asian country of Singapore. The study utilised a social representational framework and mixed-method design comprised of a content analysis of newspaper articles, and interviews and focus group discussions with a diverse sample of Tamil Singaporeans.

It was found that Tamil Singaporeans understood mental illness in terms of symptoms that can be broadly categorised as deviance and deficit. Mental illness was also understood in terms of its causes, with psychosocial explanations the most common. The variety in causal attributions was paralleled by a diversity of treatment options and pluralistic help-seeking practices were evident. There were both positive and negative attitudes towards mental illness: explicit positive sentiments regarding respect and human rights for people with mental illness were countered by implicit stereotyping and stigmatisation. Overall, the community’s representations of mental illness appeared to be structured around the notion of control and controllability.

A key finding was the presence of cognitive polyphasia. Differential communicative practices contributed to the maintenance of both Western medical and traditional Indian models among the Tamil community. Various barriers to, and promoters of, dialogue between knowledges were identified and the relative presence or absence of these structures reflected three different forms of polyphasia: pluralism, separation and hybridisation. Pluralism described the state wherein people did not engage with the multiplicity of representations whereas hybridisation described the integration of multiple representations into one system. Separation was a special case where the multiple representations were reorganised into representations of different objects, namely mental illness and spirit possession. Identity requirements policed the level and type of engagement between multiple representations.

The study has important implications for the theory of social representations as well as the field of mental health.

Crazy radio: the domestication of mental illness over the airwaves

by Tiziano Bonini

Published in: “The Radio Journal”, Londra, Intellect ed., vol. 3 n.3, 2006.

May community radio be a therapy for patients who suffer from mental diseases? Can radio be a useful tool both for... more May community radio be a therapy for patients who suffer from mental diseases? Can radio be a useful tool both for recovering the selves of the patients and for the ‘normal’ people outside the hospitals, helping to communicate less stereotyped images of the mental illness? This article will try to answer these questions, analysing two different case histories, the ones of Radio la Colifata of Buenos Aires – the first radio station to be totally conducted by patients – and of Radio Rete 180 of Mantova, Italy, the last born of this genre. The article is the result of ethnographic research conducted in Buenos Aires and in Mantova through the methods of participant observation of the live radio sessions and in-depth interviews with the patients. The experience I had studying these ‘crazy radio’ stations led me to the belief that community radio practice further enhances the feeling of being at home with ourselves and with others and can effectively work as a tool of social connection and participation, not only in the case of mentally ill patients as it will be shown here, but also in other cases of ‘Otherness’ (i.e. asylum seekers, migrants, prison inmates, etc.).

Mental disorder, illness and biological disfunction

by David Papineau

in A. Phillips Griffith (ed) Philosophy, Psychiatry and Psychology 1995

Branching Out: The Impact of a Mental Health Ecotherapy Program

by Lee Knifton

Knifton L, Quinn N, Inglis G & Byrne P (2009) Ethical issues in a national mental health arts festival Journal of Ethics in Mental Health, 4, 4.

by Lee Knifton

Examining mental illness in Canadian workplaces: A content analysis of trends and directions using arbitration case decisions.

by Wendy R. Carroll

MacAulay, Anne & Carroll, Wendy R. (2011)

Mental illness has become one of the leading reasons of absenteeism in Canadian workplaces. A content analysis of 60... more Mental illness has become one of the leading reasons of absenteeism in Canadian workplaces. A content analysis of 60 arbitration case decisions relating to mental illness reveals that such cases have more than tripled between 1990 and 2009. The findings indicate that employees with positive employment records are being dismissed and often success in the grievance amounts to some form of loss for the employee. In addition, it was found that arbitrators are struggling in their assessment of medical evidence but the arbitrators have provided clear direction to employers about their duty to inquire.

Contact Wendy R. Carroll at wcarroll@upei.ca for more information about this paper.