Dowling College Spring 2002 CRN 25723 TR 1130AM-1250PM RC 203
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Dr Christian Perring |
Work phone: (631) 244-3349 |
Office Location:
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330A RC |
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E-mail: |
Office hours: |
MW 900-1000AM |
Required Books:
Ethics of Psychiatry: Insanity, Rational Autonomy, and Mental Health Care, edited by Rem B. Edwards. Prometheus Books, 1997. [EP]
What's Normal?: Narratives of Mental & Emotional Disorders, edited by Carol C. Donley and Sheryl Buckley. Kent State University Press, 2000. [WN]
Course Packet: Available at Campus Photocopy Center [CP]
Edward Shorter: “The Birth of Psychiatry.” Chapter 1 of A History of Psychiatry, Wiley, 1997.
Lewis Wolpert: “Psychological Explanations” & “Biological Explanations and the Brain”; Chapters 8 & 9 of Malignant Sadness, Free Press, 1999.
Peter Kramer, from Listening to Prozac. Chapters 1 & 3.
Ronald Dworkin, “The Medicalization of Unhappiness,” The Public Interest, Summer 2001 p85 (Available through Dowling Library website – use INFOTRAC )
Christina Hoff Sommers, “Reeducating the Nation’s Boys,” Chapter Two from The War Against Boys.
Louis Charland, “Cynthia’s Dilemma” (Available later in the semester)
Fingarette//Madsen from Takings Sides: Clashing Views on Controversial Psychological Issues.
Lawrie Reznek, “Alcoholism and the Medical Model of Disease”
Course Description:
This course will survey philosophical issues in psychiatry -- ethical, social, epistemological and metaphysical. These include confidentiality of patient’s records, the duty of therapists to warn others about dangerous patients, the insanity defense, the right to refuse treatment, and the right of mental patients to parity of coverage from insurance companies and state programs with people who have physical illnesses. We will spend about half the semester on the following three issues:
This class on the web: You will find this class on the web by going http://www.oocities.org/cperring and I encourage you to use the links and discussion boards available on the class website.
Links to useful websites: http://www.angelfire.com/ny/metapsychology/psypsylinks.html
Prerequisites: Any two classes in Philosophy, Psychology, Anthropology, or Sociology.
Attendance. There will be no class on Feb 7 or in the last week of February. To replace these, you must attend at least three of the Tuesday evening Speaker Series talks on The Medicalization of Childhood. Attendance is 5% of your grade. You can miss one class with no excuse; after that, every class absence loses you 1% of your total grade. Arriving to class more than 15 minutes late loses you 0.5% of your total grade.
Your grade: Students will write eight 500-word reflections on issues discussed in class, and will write a 12-page research paper; there will be a midterm exam and a final exam. Attendance 5%; Participation 10%; Midterm exam 15%; Final exam 20%; Reflection pieces 20%; Final paper 30%.
Extra credit: Students can get 5% extra credit by doing a 15-20 minute presentation. This presentation must be of high quality: it cannot simply be read from a paper, it must be in the student’s own words, summarizing ideas and explaining them clearly. Audiovisual aids can be useful, but should not dominate the presentation. If a presentation is not of high quality, the student will get no credit for it.
Reflection pieces: ~500 words each: these can be personal or abstract; they should discuss issues raised in class or in the readings. They can bring in your personal experience, discussions of novels, movies, TV shows, magazine and newspaper articles, as well as what the articles in the class books.
Term Paper: Your research paper should be 12 pages, or about 3500 words. It should discuss academic articles and scholarly books on an issue in the philosophy of psychiatry. It can also discuss memoirs, novels, TV shows or movies. It is your responsibility to come up with a topic. I encourage you to write a draft, which is due in the first week of April; I will give you feedback on your draft. It can be a survey of views in the field, or it can take a position and argue for it. It is essential that your paper address a controversial issue in the philosophy of psychiatry, and that it demonstrates an understanding of the main views taken by academics who have addressed this issue. All papers must be submitted electronically using http://turnitin.com. The class ID is 25031. I will tell you the class password in class.
Plagiarism and Cheating. All research for papers must be carefully documented and footnoted. Minor plagiarism will result in you receiving a zero grade for the work. Major plagiarism will mean you fail the class. All plagiarism will be documented and reported to the Dean of Students.
Schedule:
Jan 31: Introduction.
Feb 5: Outline of the history of psychiatry.
Reading: Shorter: “The Birth of Psychiatry.” CP
Feb 7: No class
Feb 12: The science of psychiatry: Depression as an example.
Reading: Wolpert: “Psychological Explanations” & “Biological Explanations and the Brain” CP
Feb 14: Phenomenology: The experience of mental illness.
Reading: Frame, “Faces in the Water”; Perkins Gilman, “The Yellow Wallpaper, Sexton, Three Poems; Ellison, “King of the Bingo Game”; Landolfi, “Gogol’s Wife,” Rilke, from The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge
Feb 19: Different narratives of addiction: Taking and disowning responsibility.
Reading. Robert Wright: “Alcohol and Free Will” EP;,
Feb 21: Is Alcoholism a Disease?
Reading: Fingarette/Madsen CP, Reznek CP
Feb 26 & 28 No Class
Mar 5: The responsibility of the mentally ill for their actions.
Reading: Reznek: “Psychiatry and Responsibility.” EP
Mar 7: The insanity defense.
Reading: Insanity Defense Work Group “Statement” EP
Mar 12: The reality of mental illness: Criticisms of Psychiatry
Reading: Farber, from Madness, Heresy and the Rumor of Angels; Hacking, from Rewriting the Soul; Rosehan, “On Being Sane in Insane Places.” WN; Szasz. The Myth of Mental Illness; Brownell, “Electroconvulsive Therapy” EP
Mar 14: The Reply to Antipsychiatry
Reading: Moore, “Some Myths About ‘Mental Illness’”, Edwards, “Mental Health as Rational Autonomy”; Veatch, The Medical Model.” EP; Yalom, from Love’s Executioner.
Mar 19: What counts as a mental illness?
Reading: Wakefield, “The Concept of Mental Disorder”; Friedman and Downey, “Homosexuality” EP
Mar 21: Midterm
Mar 26 & 28: Midterm break -- No Class
Apr 2: The Rights of Children and Young Adults
Reading: Aiken, “Silent Snow, Secret Snow”; Greene, “The End of the Party”; Kaysen, from Girl Interrupted WN
Apr 4: Mental Retardation: The Experience
Reading: Nichols, from Joe Egg; O’Connor, “The Life You Save May Be Your Own”; Steinbeck, from Of Mice and Men; Tyler, “Average Waves in Unprotected Waters”; Welty, “Lily Daw and the Three Ladies” WN
Apr 9: Are we responding appropriately to learning disorders and retardation?
Reading:
Apr 11: Is ADHD overdiagnosed?
Reading: Diller, “Kids on Drugs and other articles available online at http://www.docdiller.com/; Hoff Sommers, Chapter Two from The War Against Boys
Apr 16: Is depression overdiagnosed?
Reading: Peter Kramer, from Listening to Prozac; Ronald Dworkin, “The Medicalization of Unhappiness” CP
Apr 18: The rights of the mentally ill
Reading: Sones, “The Right to Refuse Psychotropic Drugs”; Winick, “The Right to Refuse Mental Health Treatment” EP; Three Stories, from Cases in Bioethics WN
Apr 23: The competence of the mentally ill; competency to consent to research
Reading: Drane, “The Many Faces of Competency”; McGarry, “The Nature of Competency to Stand Trial”
Apr 25: Cases.
Apr 30: Commitment, Voluntary and Involuntary
Reading: Breggin, “Coercion of Voluntary Patients in an Open Hospital”; Szasz, “Involuntary Civial Commitment”;
May 2: The treatment of potentially dangerous people with mental illnesses
Reading: Grisso and Appelbaum, “Is It Unethical to Offer Predictions of Future Violence?”; Hermann, “A Critique of Revisions in Procedural, Substantive, and Dispositional Criteria in Involuntary Civil Commitment” EP
May 7: Confidentiality
Reading: Appelbaum, “The Duty to Protect Potential Victims of Patients’ Violence”; Wettstein, “Confidentiality” EP
Possible Paper Topics
Is normal grief a mental disorder?
Is alcoholism a disease, disorder, or simply a bad choice?
Discuss the controversy over the insanity defense, and then apply your discussion to a well-known case where the insanity defense has been attempted or might have been appropriate (Susan Smith, Jeffrey Dahmer, Theodore Kaczynski, Andrea Yates).
Issues in the Philosophy of Psychiatry: A Conceptual Map
The History of Psychiatry
The Science of Psychiatry: How Much Do We Know?
The Mind-Body Problem and Reductionism in Neuroscience
The Reality of Mental Illness vs. Antipsychiatry
Agency and Moral Responsibility
Addiction, Eating Disorders, Paraphilias, Personality Disorders, Depression
Controversies in Classification
Depression, Dysthymia, Addiction, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Personality Disorders, Learning Disorders, Gender Issues, Homosexuality
Ethical Controversies in Treatment and Research
Brain Surgery, Electroshock, Medication, Psychotherapy, Alcoholics Anonymous, Boundary Issues Between Professionals and Patients; Confidentiality, Patient Competency
Social Issues
The Power of Pharmaceutical Companies, Managed Care, The Right to Care, Deinstitutionalization
Legal Issues
The Insanity Defense, Involuntary Commitment
Links:
· DSM-IV Diagnostic Criteria for Depression
· Janet Frame: An Angel at My Table. Against ECT. Part of Citizens Commission on Human Rights site, connected with L. Ron Hubbard and Scientology.
· Janet Frame, from the Oxford Companion to New Zealand Writers.
· Charlotte Perkins Gillman: The Yellow Wallpaper Site
· Charlotte Perkins Gilman Page
· Diane Middlebrook’s page for her biography of Anne Sexton and ethical issues for biographers