The Concept of Mental Health Between Facts and Values: A Defense of the Objectivity of Psychiatry

My objectives during my residency are:

1) I will revise my thesis in light of the feedback provided by my advising committee.
2) I will edit two thesis chapters for publication as articles in peer-reviewed journals.
3) I will interact with worldwide recognized organizations in Geneva such as WHO over the topic of mental health.
4) I will critically engage with current discourses in philosophy of psychiatry, American psychiatry and sociology of psychiatry over the topic of mental health in an interdisciplinary expert community.
5) I will contribute to the Brocher Foundation community by bringing my expertise as a trained philosopher of psychiatry and my perspective from a North American tradition.

The objectives of my PhD thesis are:

1) To rethink the public debate between American psychiatry, the discourse of groups of patients, and sociology and philosophy of psychiatry over the definition and use of the concept of mental disorder from the 1960s to today.

2) To identify and critically examine existing responses to the criticisms targeting the overgrowing medicalization of mental health problems.

3) To develop and promote a new model for decision-making structures of the APA for the inclusion, exclusion, and revision of psychiatric diagnostic categories in the DSM with the aim of managing legitimate criticisms targeting psychiatry.
4) To contribute to the recognition of the feminist philosophy of science tradition to elaborate decision-making procedures in the context of conflicting expertise, values, and interests.