This podcast features Dr Alastair Morgan (Senior Lecturer in Mental Health, Sheffield Hallam University) on ‘Is Psychiatry Dying? The contemporary legitimation crisis in psychiatry’. It was recorded at a meeting of the Durham University and Tyne, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust Joint Special Interest Group in Psychosis (JSIGP) on 26 March 2014.
Abstract: This talk explores the contemporary “legitimation crisis” in psychiatry. Does psychiatry know what it is for, does it have a role in the future and does it have a clear idea of its conceptual foundations ? Should we care if psychiatry withers away, and dissolves into a range of new disciplines, such as neuroscience, the science of wellbeing, or the pragmatic management of life issues in the name of mental health recovery ? The talk will examine a proliferation of new and competing “paradigms” for the ontological status of psychiatry and critical psychiatry, and tries to map a direction for the future of psychiatry in the 21st century.
We would like to thank Alastair for a fascinating contribution to the JSIGP meeting. The power point slides that accompanied his presentation are available here.