In the 1960s a group of psychologists and psychiatrists rejected any idea that mental illness could be described by reference to disease, a medical condition where symptoms can be identified and treated. They argued instead that mental disorder should not be seen as an illness, but rather a person’s reaction to life events, such as bereavement or failure. Others objected on different grounds. For instance, Richard Bentall argued that there is no distinct line between mentally healthy and unhealthy individuals because they are both equally likely to experience extreme changes in mood, behavior, and personality on a continuum. Rather than considering psychotic episodes, such as hearing voices or seeing ghosts, as abnormal, he believed that everyone experiences something similar to a greater degree or lesser extent. David Rosenhan took a further critical view – the fact that psychiatric diagnoses are based on the classification of symptoms was hopelessly unreliable. His research teams presented themselves to psychiatric hospitals and were misdiagnosed by psychiatrists who didn’t recognize genuine patients.
Mind and brain
In many cultures around this world, there is the view that humans have a soul that exists independently of the physical body. For Greek philosophers, the soul was also viewed as the seat of our reasoning abilities - what we would call our minds today. While Aristotle...
