Shifting Configurations of Science, Practice & Selfhood in US Psychiatry
Discussant: Dr Simon Cohn, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
The US National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) today urges researchers to go beyond existing categorizations listed within the American Psychiatric Association Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (the DSM). Studies instead should seek to contribute to new understandings of psychopathology based largely - but not exclusively - on biology, and which could enhance therapeutic innovation (at least, this is how the NIMH plans are often understood).
This talk draws on initial research conducted as part of a Wellcome Trust project seeking to understand the rationales underlying the shifting research strategies of the NIMH (and other funders), their impact on laboratory research, and their effects on how psychiatrists understand and treat patients. Specifically, the presentation will draw on semi-structured interviews with 13 scientists with roles in shaping the contexts of US and UK psychiatry (e.g., NIMH officials, senior members of the American Psychiatric Association, and the editors of major psychiatric journals).
The talk will set out what is (perceived to be) distinctive about the work of the NIMH in the context of other ventures to go 'beyond diagnosis' in psychiatry, and discuss the interviewee's responses to such developments. Through their direct actions and through the contestation they created, the NIMH (and other funders) are directing increased attention to the place and roles of psychiatric symptoms in research, and hence, ultimately, clinical practice and the nature of the selves that are produced through therapeutic interventions.
In so doing, the NIMH is seeking to produce a new form of epistemic infrastructure with ontological effects that are beginning to extend beyond the US - generating reflexivity and reigniting scientific passions of diverse kinds.
After Dr Cohn's response, we will open up the session for a general discussion and follow this with a trip to a nearby pub.
Admission