Philosophy & Ethics of Mental Health

It is a remarkable fact that philosophers, in a sense the experts on rationality, should have taken so little interest in irrationality.

Things have changed since Anthony Quinton, a British philosopher and now a member of the House of Lords, made this observation in a lecture to the Royal Institute of Philosophy in 1985.

Philosophers are nowadays actively interested in a wide range of topics from mental health practice and research.

Conversely, mental health practitioners (both professionals and service users) are actively interested in a wide range of philosophical topics. Indeed, the explosive growth in cross-disciplinary contact in the last few years has been as remarkable as the earlier neglect.

But the years of neglect have left a communication gap. Philosophers coming for the first time to a problem in mental health often lack the background knowledge, the first-hand ‘folk’ experience, to tap into the philosophical aspects of mental health problems in a practical way.

Practitioners, on the other hand, coming to philosophy for the first time, often have little understanding of what philosophers do and of how they go about doing it.

The pemh programme is increasingly being recognised as relevant to professional development in many different careers with interests in mental health, including: nursing, philosophy, psychiatry, psychotherapy and social work.

We currently have direct links with The United Kingdom Central Council for Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting, The Royal College of Psychiatrists, and The West Midlands Post-Qualifying Consortium in Social Work. We also have links with the Walsgrave Hospital and other clinical centres who are able to offer practical experience.