The Disordered Mind

by George Graham

The Disordered Mind, Third Edition, is a wide-ranging introduction to the philosophy of mental disorder or illness. It examines and explains, from a philosophical standpoint, what mental disorder Its reality, causes, consequences, compassionate treatment, and more.

Revised and updated throughout, the third edition includes enhanced discussions of the distinction between mental health and illness, selfhood and delusions about the self, impairments of basic psychological capacities in mental disorder, and the distinct roles that mental causation and neural mechanisms play in mental illness.

The book is organized around four

• What is a mental disorder or illness?

• What makes mental disorder something bad?

• What are various mental disorders and what do they tell us about the mind?

• What is mental health and how may it be restored?

Numerous disorders are discussed, including addiction, agoraphobia, delusion, depression, dissociative identity disorder, obsession-compulsion, schizophrenia, and religious scrupulosity, among others. Several neurological disorders are examined. Various problems associated with DSM-5 and with psychiatric diagnosis are explored. Including chapter summaries and suggestions for further reading, The Disordered Mind is an ideal text for courses in philosophy and should appeal to not just philosophers, but to readers in cognitive science, psychology, psychiatry, and related mental health professions.

Genres: Philosophy, Psychology, Psychiatry

12 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2010

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Dr Graham is Professor of Philosophy at Georgia State University. He specializes in philosophy of mind, philosophical psychopathology (philosophy and psychiatry), and cognitive science.

View his academic profile at http://philosophy.gsu.edu/profile/geo...

Reviews

[Tara · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had to read this book for a university class, Self and Identity. A Philosophy class I took to fill a gen ed humanities requirement. I should first state that I am a Psychology major and have a great interest in Philosophy as well, would probably major in it if I thought it could actually produce a job. So this subject matter was pretty high on my personal interest scale. However, Graham's writing is very muddled and repetitive. You are reading a whole lot of nothing a good portion of the book. He isn't very easy to follow, and when he was I disagreed with him a large majority of the time. His take on mental illness is that mental disorder's are not disorders of the brain and spends the majority of the book trying to convince the reader of this belief. Of course he is also defending that mental disorders exist against a group of anti-realists who believe it doesn't. That much I believe he succeeds in.
If you are considering this book because a course requires it, go ahead and take the course, it's interesting material. Just don't expect to agree with him if you have much of a Psych background. I expected to keep this one for my personal library, but I can't wait to sell it back. If it's a joy read of a subject you love, I'd pass over this one.

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Packed with insight. If you are at all interested in philosophy of mind, moral psychology, or theories of mental disorder, you might be interested in this book. Definitely takes some patience and dedication to get through as Graham has a particularly long-winded and wordy style of writing. However, if you can get past this you'll likely find Graham's rigorous treatment of mental disorder rewarding.

[Matt · Rating 2 out of 5]

I only read a manuscript of this book, and I did not care for it. However, I suspect that judging this book by the manuscript is unfair.

[Maja · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's an ok introduction but a bit repetitive.