The Anti-psychiatry Movement and Alternative Approaches to Mental Distress [Seminar]

This seminar examines the historical course and development of the antipsychiatry movement, emphasizing the special contribution of Laing, Cooper and Bateson, as well as the policies of de-asylum and de-institutionalization that were implemented in America and Europe since the 1960s. The seminar aims to scientifically deconstruct the biomedical model of mental illness through the presentation of contemporary findings that support the social construction of known and established psychiatric diagnoses, as well as findings that support the importance of social determinants of mental health. At a second level, an elaboration of contemporary alternative approaches to the treatment of mental pain will be made, such as self-help programs, open dialogue and community work.