Within a biomedical worldview\, the processes a nd practices of psychiatric diagnosis aim to achieve objectivity\, reliabil ity\, and neurobiological veracity in the codification of mental illness. Y et these same practices are cultural\, socio-material achievements that hav e profound effects on the individuals being categorized\, especially becaus e diagnostic considerations frequently inform prognostication as well as di rect a variety of biological and psychological interventions. The implicati ons of these interrelations are of particular significance for the area of first episode psychosis (FEP)\, where diagnostic uncertainty is often the n orm and prevention of disability the aim.
In this paper I draw on my own three-year ethnographic study (The Psychosis Narratives Project) to exp lore juxtapositions that exist between psychiatric service users\, family m embers\, and clinicians in relation to the processes of diagnostic categori zation. I offer an analysis of the ways that diagnostic practices in FEP t hat dramatizes the relationship between biopolitics and the materialization of psychosis in the clinic setting. Situating my work within feminist epis temology and feminist philosophy of science\, I go on to discuss the fricti ons that would arise\, for instance linking tensions around the acceptance of antipsychotic medications to forms of epistemic injustice within the cli nic.
Philosophy of psychiatry often frames issues of diagnosis as a q uestion of natural kinds and scientific generalizations\, despite limitatio ns stemming from the narrowness of this approach (Tekin 2016). While this p aper draws on and extends philosophical discussions of diagnosis\, it does so by demonstrating how the richness of lived experience can index the stak es of categorization: diagnostic practices fundamentally relate to identity and subjectivity\, carrying significant material implications for world an d self-making.
Speaker Bio:
Suze Berkhout is a n early career clinician-investigator at the University of Toronto\, a prac ticing psychiatrist based out of Toronto General Hospital\, and an affiliat e of the Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology at U of T. She is a graduate of UBC's MD/PhD program\, where she carried o ut her doctoral research under the supervision of Scott Anderson. Her progr am of research is situated in feminist philosophy of science/STS\, where sh e focuses on ways to innovate methodologies in order to understand the soci al and cultural dynamics that shape health systems access and the impact of technologies and biomedical intervention on lived experience. She uses eth nographic\, narrative\, and research-creation approaches to critically enga ge the contours and implications of what has been called medicine’s curativ e imaginary: the disciplinary matrix of norms\, beliefs\, practices\, and m etaphors that sees disability as tragedy and intervention as necessary and inevitable. She leads SSHRC\, NFRF\, and CDTRP-funded projects that cut acr oss populations and issues\, including first episode psychosis\, treatment refractoriness in mental health\, solid organ transplantation\, and the fie ld of placebo studies.
CATEGORIES:Featured Events LOCATION:BUCH A203 GEO:49.269076;-123.254727 URL;VALUE=URI:https://philosophy.ubc.ca/events/event/suzeberkhout/ ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://phil.cms.arts.ubc.ca/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2023/12/Colloquium-Feb-9-2024.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:America/Vancouver BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:-0700 TZOFFSETTO:-0800 DTSTART:20231105T090000 TZNAME:PST END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE END:VCALENDAR