Schizophrenia arguably is the most troubling, puzzling, and complex mental illness. No single discipline is equipped to understand it. Though schizophrenia has been investigated predominately from psychological, psychiatric and neurobiological perspectives, few attempts have been made to apply the tool kit of philosophy to schizophrenia, the mix of global analysis, conceptual insight, and argumentative clarity that is indicative of a philosophical perspective. This book is a major effort at redressing that imbalance. Recent developments in the area of philosophy known as the philosophy of psychiatry have made it clear that it is time for philosophy to contribute to our understanding of schizophrenia. The range of contributions is many and varied. Some contributors are professional philosophers; some not. Some contributions focus on matters of method and history. Others argue for dramatic reforms in our understanding of schizophrenia or its symptoms. The authors in this book are committed to the idea that philosophy can indeed help to understand schizophrenia in a way which is different from but complements traditional medical-clinical approaches. The book should appeal to every reader who wants to better understand a major mental illness, including its distinctive character, conscious content, and sources of puzzlement. Readers will find the essays gathered here afford stimulating insights into the human mind and its conditions of vulnerability.

Nature and Narrative is the launch volume in a new series of books entitled International Perspectives in Philosophy and Psychiatry. The series will aim to build links between the sciences and humanities in psychiatry.

Our ability to decipher mental disorders depends to a unique extent on both the sciences and the humanities. Science provides insight into the 'causes' of a problem, enabling us to formulate an 'explanation', and the humanities provide insight into its 'meanings' and helps with our 'understanding'. Psychiatry, if it is to develop as a balanced discipline, must draw on input from both of these spheres.

Nature (for causes) and Narrative (for meanings) will help define the series as a whole by touching on a range of issues relevant to this 'border country'. With contributions from an international star-studded cast, representing the field of psychiatry, psychology and philosophy, this volume will set the scene for this new interdisciplinary field.

This will be of interest to all those with practical experience of mental health issues, whether as providers or as users/consumers of services, as well as to philosophers, social scientists, and bioethicists.

In Two Minds is a practical casebook of problem solving in psychiatric ethics. Written in a lively and accessible style, it builds on a series of detailed case histories to illustrate the central place of ethical reasoning as a key competency for clinical work and research in psychiatry. Topics include risk, dangerousness and confidentiality; judgements of responsibility; involuntary treatment and mental health legislation; consent to genetic screening; dual role issues in child and adolescent psychiatry; needs assessment; cross-cultural and gender issues; rational and irrational suicide; shared decision making in multi-agency teams, and the growing role of the user's voice in psychiatry. Key ethical concepts are carefully introduced and explained. The text is richly supported by detailed guides for further reading. There are separate chapters on teaching psychiatric ethics, including a sample seminar, and on writing a research ethics application. Each case history and discussion is followed by a critical commentary from a practitioner with relevant experience. Jim Birley adds a comparative international perspective on psychiatric ethics. Cartoons by Johnny Cowee provide punchy counterpoint! In Two Minds is the sister volume to the third edition of Sidney, Paul Chodoff and Steven Green's highly successful Psychiatric Ethics. In providing a bridge between theory and practice, it will be essential reading for everyone concerned with improving standards in mental health care.

Psychiatrists have written much about the explosive expansion of scientific knowledge of the brain which developed over the late 20th century and the early 21st century. Comparatively little has been written within the field of psychiatry about the changes in society and world culture over this same period, and even less on the scope of psychiatric ethics that would account for these changes. Yet psychiatric ethics is an excellent framework in which to examine social changes in the field over the past 25 years, changes which are dramatic in nature and profound in impact. Some of these social changes include multiculturalism and its associated diversity of values; the transition to the digital era with its new demands on confidentiality, clinical boundaries, and privacy; the empowerment of psychiatric service users as full participants and co-producers of care; the development of new technologies of assessment and treatment, varying in their invasiveness and risk; the recognition of expanded social roles for psychiatrists, and the associated virtues of psychiatric citizenship; and the development of new practice models, settings, participants, and oversight, all of which represent profound challenges and opportunities for the ethical practice of psychiatry. The Oxford Handbook of Psychiatric Ethics is the most comprehensive treatment of the field in history. The volume is organized into ten sections which survey the scope of the text: (1) Introduction, (2) People Come First, (3) Specific Populations, (4) Philosophy and Psychiatric Ethics, (5) Religious Contexts of Psychiatric Ethics, (6) Social Contexts of Psychiatric Ethics, (7) Ethics in Psychiatric Citizenship and the Law, (8) Ethics of Psychiatric Research, (9) Ethics and Values in Psychiatric Assessment and Diagnosis, (10) Ethics and Values in Psychiatric Treatment. Written and edited by an international team of experts, this landmark book provides a powerful and important review of psychiatric ethics in the 21st Century.

Mental health is the one area of health care where people are often treated against their will, with the justification that it is in their own interest. This raises significant ethical questions and value dilemmas; questions of autonomy, human rights, power and treatment. An understanding of how values matter is of vital importance across all disciplines working within the mental health field. This book provides a comprehensive and exploratory text for practitioners, students and all those interested in developing a knowledge of both ethics and the wider framework of values-based practice. It is unique in being fully co-written by authors representing both service user and service provider perspectives. This exciting new text will enable the mental health practitioner to work more co-productively with service users within a humane and just approach to care. With an emphasis on rights-based compassionate care throughout, this book: - Tackles the issues of how mental health is understood through key theoretical debates about mental distress, values and labelling; - Encourages readers to think critically about their understanding of key issues such as recovery, autonomy, power, knowledge, diagnoses and empathy; - Draws on a wide range of case examples and exercises to help readers deepen their knowledge of values-based practice and ethics in mental health.