Hermeneutical injustice in CBT
Towards an enactivist paradigm in psychiatric practice
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 19234641 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Jasmine Wanjiru Onstad (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Pages | 1-27 |
| Publication date | 2026-01-13 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Philosophical Psychology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0951-5089 • E-ISSN: 1465-394X |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/09515089.2025.2604598 |
| OpenAlex | W7123926785 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 55 |
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is widely presented as an empirically grounded, value-neutral “gold standard” of psychotherapy. This paper challenges that assumption by arguing that CBT is underpinned by substantive philosophical commitments that shape what counts as legitimate knowledge and therapeutic change. Excavating cognitivism and hierarchical objectivism as core concepts which have shaped the historical development of CBT, I will demonstrate how the approach constrains the therapeutic encounter within narrow explanatory frameworks that privilege cognitive correction. Drawing on Fricker’s concept, I argue that CBT’s dominance contributes to hermeneutical injustice in psychiatry by limiting patients’ interpretive agency and restricting pathways for psychological healing. As an alternative, I propose enactive psychiatry as a more suitable paradigm for understanding mental distress and guiding psychotherapeutic practice. Enactivism offers a pluralistic, relational, and participatory model that better addresses epistemic power asymmetries while remaining committed to scientific inquiry as a means of alleviating psychological suffering
Injustice · Mental illness · Psychiatric Disease · Counseling, Therapy, and Family Dynamics · Embodied and Extended Cognition · Mental Health and Psychiatry
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An enactivist reconceptualization of the medical model
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Problems for enactive psychiatry as a practical framework
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The Epistemology of Resistance
Why Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Is the Current Gold Standard of Psychotherapy
Participatory Interactive Objectivity in Psychiatry
Overcoming Hermeneutical Injustice in Mental Health
The Embodied Mind
Participatory sense-making
Psychotherapy's identity crisis
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |