LECTURE
 

The Person in Psychiatry:

An Ecohumanist, Enactive Approach to Psychiatry

 

MON 15 APRIL, 20:00

Auditorium, Minderbroedersberg 4-6

 

Prof. Sanneke de Haan

Socrates Professor of Psychiatry & Philosophy, Erasmus University Rotterdam

 

Many people suffer from psychiatric disorders and mental distress. Yet much is still unclear –regarding both how to understand these problems and how best to treat them. One of the main difficulties is articulating the relationship between the wide array of factors that may cause or contribute to psychiatric disorders.

 

Taking an enactive, ecohumanist approach, Sanneke de Haan argues that taking people’s experiences seriously requires us to look at their developmental history and the role of the specific sociocultural practices they take part in, and finally to take account of people’s existential (self)understanding.

 

Instead of assuming an individualistic approach, a focus on the person in psychiatry reveals the need to take their context – broadly understood – into account. This is in line with holistic, personalised approaches to treatment. It also implies that psychiatry may need to become more societally and/or politically engaged.