Embodied, Embedded, and Enactive Psychopathology: Reimagining Mental Disorder (Palgrave Studies in the Theory and History of Psychology)

Embodied, Embedded, and Enactive Psychopathology presents a new way of thinking about mental disorder that is holistic yet critically minded, biologically plausible yet value-inclusive, and scientific yet deeply compassionate. Grounded in an embodied, embedded, and enactive (3e) view of human functioning, this book presents a novel conceptual framework for the study and treatment of mental disorders and explores implications for the tasks of classification, explanation, and treatment. Chapters one to three argue for the central role of conceptualization in the study and treatment of mental disorders. Popular conceptual models are critiqued, including other recent enactive frameworks. Chapters four to seven then present 3e Psychopathology and explore its implications. This includes analysis of both research-based efforts to explain mental disorders, and methods for formulating individual-level explanations in clinical practice. New answers are presented for important questions such as: are mental disorders things we do or get? Are mental disorders defined in nature or are they socially constructed? Are mental disorders the same things across different cultures? And, are mental disorders located in our brains, bodies, or environments? This engaging work offers fresh insights that will appeal to clinicians, researchers, and those with an interest in the philosophy of psychiatry. Acknowledgments Praise for Embodied, Embedded, and Enactive Psychopathology Contents List of Figures List of Tables 1: Conceptualization as a Core Task of Psychopathology Research 1.1 The Task of Conceptualization 1.2 Some General Questions to Get Started 1.3 A Wider Commitment to Pluralism 1.4 Is This a Scientific or Philosophical Project? 1.5 Conceptualization and Conceptions of Human Functioning 1.6 Structure and Argument of This Book References 2: Current Conceptual Models of Mental Disorder 2.1 Structurally Oriented Concepts Non-kinds/Continua Natural/Essentialist Kinds Discrete Kinds Fuzzy Kinds 2.2 Normatively Oriented Concepts Anti-psychiatric/Deflationary Positions Statistical Functionalism Evolutionary Functionalism Evaluative Concepts 2.3 Practical Kinds Returning to Human Functioning The Normative Gap May Be Artefactual References 3: 3e Cognition and Existing Enactive Frameworks 3.1 3e Cognition Embodiment, Embedment, and Enactivism Going Deeper with Enactivism 3.2 Previous Conceptual Work in Embodied/Enactive Psychopathology Fuchs’ Circular Causes and Dual Aspectivity De Haan’s Enactive Psychiatry Maiese’s Enactive Medical Model (and One Tangent) 3.3 Summary References 4: The Bones of 3e Psychopathology 4.1 Conceptual Tools within the Enactive Worldview Organizational Causality, Constitution, and Dual Aspectivity Naturalized Normativity Cultural Embeddedness Thoroughgoing Affectivity A Developmental Perspective Demand for Pluralism 4.2 Enactivism and the Structure of Disordered Behavior 4.3 Enactivism and the Normative Basis of Disorder 4.4 Summary References 5: Fleshing Out the Concept, and Questions of Classification 5.1 Integrating into a Fuller Concept 5.2 A View from Some Different Angles 5.3 Anxiety as an Illustrative Example 5.4 Getting More Precise Causalism/Descriptivism Essentialism/Nominalism Objectivism/Evaluativism Internalism/Externalism Entities/Agents Categories/Continua 5.5 Comparing Conceptual Models Structural Models Normative Models 5.6 Questions of Classification Classificatory Humility and Pluralism Alternative Modes of Functioning Are Not Disorders 5.7 Summary References 6: The Task of Explanation (and the Beginnings of Treatment) 6.1 What Does It Mean to Explain? 6.2 Explanation for Researchers Gradualism, Explanatory Pluralism, and Methodological Pluralism DSM-ICD, RDoC, and Symptom-Based Approaches to Explanation The RAP Summarizing 3e Psychopathology and Nomothetic Explanation 6.3 Explanation for Clinicians—i.e., Formulation A Rough Methodological Taxonomy of Formulation Practices Formulation and 3e Psychopathology The Sense-Making Spiral, a Tool for Clinicians 6.4 Explanation in Short References 7: Summing Up and Moving Forward 7.1 Looking Back 7.2 Disordered Eating as a Summary Example 7.3 Limitations of the Current Project Appropriate Use Falsifiability/Explanatory Value Applicability 7.4 Returning to Our Starting Questions 7.5 Conclusion References References Index