This book presents an original approach to the study of psychiatry that
is based on a justified epistemological position, which demands that
both the natural and the human/social sciences are necessary in
developing our understanding. Psychiatry as a medical specialism was
constructed in the nineteenth century through the interplay of both the
natural sciences and the human/social sciences. This interplay has
created a hybrid discipline that spans biological and
socio-cultural-historical domains, which has raised challenges for its
understanding and research. This book focuses on one of the principal
challenges - how can we explore mental symptoms and mental disorders as
complexes of neurobiology on the one hand and meaning on the other?
The chapters in this book, dedicated to Germán E Berrios, founder of the
Cambridge school of psychopathology, tackles distinctive aspects of
psychopathology or related areas. By means of a combination of
approaches, chapters seek to unfold another element in our understanding
of this field as well as raise new directions for its further study.
Rethinking Psychopathology is a valuable resource for clinical
psychologists and psychotherapists, psychological researchers,
historians of psychology, cultural psychologists, critical
psychologists, social scientists, philosophers of psychology, and
philosophers of science.