Abstract
Although ‘modern’ mental health care comprises a variety of theoretical
approaches and practices, the supposed identification of ‘mental illness’
can be understood as being made on the basis of a specific conception
of subjectivity that is characteristic of ‘modernity’. This is to say that any
perceived ‘deviation’ from this characteristically ‘modern self’ is seen as
a possible ‘sign’ of ‘mental
illness
’, given a ‘negative determination’, and
conceptualized in terms of a ‘deficiency’ or a ‘lack’; accordingly, the
‘ideal’ ‘therapeutic’ aim of ‘modern’ mental health care can be understood
as the ‘rectification’ of that ‘deficiency’ through a ‘re-instatement’
of the ‘modern self’. Although contemporary mental health care is
increasingly becoming influenced by the so-called ‘death’ of the ‘modern
self’, this paper will suggest that it is the work of the 20th century French
philosopher, Gilles Deleuze, that is able to provide mental health care
with a coherent determination of a ‘
postmodern
self’. However, a
Deleuzian account of subjectivity stands in stark contrast to ‘modernity’s’
conception of subjectivity and, as such, this paper will attempt to
show how this ‘
postmodern’
subjectivity challenges many of the
assumptions of ‘modern’ mental health care. Moreover, acknowledging
the complexity and the perceived difficulty of Deleuze’s work, this
paper will provide an account of subjectivity that can be understood as
‘Deleuzian’ in its orientation, rather than ‘Deleuze’s theory of subjectivity’,
and therefore, this paper also seeks to stimulate further research
and discussion of Deleuze’s work on subjectivity, and how that work
may be able to inform, and possibly even reform, the theoretical foundations
and associated diagnostic and therapeutic practices of psychiatry,
psychotherapy, and mental health nursing.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 191-204 |
Number of pages | 14 |
Journal | Nursing Philosophy |
Volume | 7 |
Issue number | 4 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Oct 2006 |