Mind, Meaning, and Mental Disorder: The Nature of Causal Explanation in Psychology and Psychiatry (International Perspectives in Philosophy and Psychi

Product Description

Philosophical ideas about the mind, brain, and behavior can seem theoretical and unimportant when placed alongside the urgent questions of mental distress and disorder. However, there is a need to give direction to attempts to answer these questions. On the one hand a substantial research
effort in going into the investigation of brain processes and the development of drug treatments for psychiatric disorders, and on the other, a wide range of psychotherapies is becoming available to adults and children with mental health problems. These two strands reflect traditional distinctions
between mind and body, and causal as opposed to meaningful explanations of behavior. In this book, which has been written for psychiatrists, psychologists, philosophers, and others in related fields, the authors propose a radical re-interpretation of these traditional distinctions. Throughout the
discussions philosophical theories are brought to bear on the particular questions of the explanation of behaviors, the nature of mental causation, and eventually the origins of major disorders including depression, anxiety disorders, schizophrenia, and personality disorder.

First published in 1996, this volume played an important role in bridging the gap between philosophy and psychiatry, and introducing those in psychiatry to philosophical ideas somewhat neglected in their field. Completely updated, the new edition of this acclaimed volume draws on the strengths of
the first edition, and will be a central text in the burgeoning field of philosophy of psychiatry.
Product Details
Amazon Sales Rank: #911866 in Books
Published on: 2004-05-06
Number of items: 1
Binding: Paperback
432 pages
Editorial Reviews

Book Info
Institute of Psychiatry and Maudsley Hospital, London, U.K. Presentation of the authors' theories on the mind, the brain, behavior, and the origins of mental disorders. For philosophers, psychologists, and psychiatrists. DNLM: Mental Disorders - etiology.

About the Author
Derek Bolton is in the Department of Psychology, Institute of Psychiatry, London. Jonathan Hill is with the Child Mental Health Unit, Royal Liverpool Children's Hospital, Liverpool.
Customer Reviews

The Appropriation of Meaning
This book represents a significant leap in our understanding of mental disorder. If we existed in a world where society was guided by the latest efforts of sharp thinkers (rather than cost/benefit analysis) then we should be seeing major changes in the existing insitutions that provide care for people with 'mental health problems'. The book begins with the following thesis: Intentional (meaningful) mental states are causal as they can be used in the explanation / prediction of action. They attend to this thesis in the first part of the book. These mental states are not reducible to physical states, rather they are 'encoded' in physical states in the brain, something akin to how information for producing a particular phenotype is encoded in the DNA molecule. Their account solves the following problem: Ever since Karl Jaspers set the limits of understanding, 'true madness' has been excluded from the domain of meaning and relegated to that of biological dysfunction. Thoughout this book Bolton and Hill show how in biology as well as in psychology there are many possiblities for disorder in the absence of any physical dysruption. Disorder can be envisaged as occuring from the intentional stance only if intentional mental states can be construed as having causal power. Their account drives meaning back into previously 'meaningless' phenomena.