Solving the self-illness ambiguity

The case for construction over discovery

Dados Bibliográficos

ID21702873
AutoresSofia Jeppsson (0000-0001-7425-3041, Umeå University, autor correspondente)
Ano2022
Volume25
Fascículo3
Páginas294-313
Data de publicação2022-09-02
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoPhilosophical Explorations (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 1386-9795 • E-ISSN: 1741-5918
EditoraInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/13869795.2022.2051589
OpenAlexW4220871695
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas6
Referências citadas34

Psychiatric patients sometimes ask where to draw the line between who they are – their selves – and their mental illness. This problem is referred to as the self-illness ambiguity in the literature; it has been argued that solving said ambiguity is a crucial part of psychiatric treatment. I distinguish a Realist Solution from a Constructivist one. The former requires finding a supposedly pre-existing border, in the psychiatric patient’s mental life, between that which belongs to the self and that which belongs to the mental illness. I argue that no such border exists, and that attempts to find it might even render the felt ambiguity worse. Instead, any solution must be constructivist; the patient (and others) should deliberate and discuss what to identify with or not. I further argue that psychiatric patients need not see their mental illness as wholly distinct from themselves to avoid ‘identifying with their diagnoses' in a problematic way. Finally, we can excuse problematic behaviour by mentally ill people – in fact, we can do so in a more nuanced and constructive way – while rejecting the view that the mental illness is wholly distinct from the patient’s self

Ambiguity · Constructive · Constructivist teaching methods · Epistemology · Excuse · Mental health · Mental illness · Mentally ill · Psychiatry · Psychotherapist · Self · Historical Psychiatry and Medical Practices · Mental Health and Psychiatry · Psychology · Psychotherapy Techniques and Applications · Social Psychology