Being Human: Reflections on Mental Distress in Society

An array of critical voices from across various disciplines in the humanities- including philosophy, psychiatry, psychology, history and literature - are brought to bear upon the subject of mental distress as an experience that appears within particular social and cultural environments. The book attempts to shed a new and different light on the intersections between mental health, mental distress and society, without offering any programmatic methodology or declaration of intent. "Being Human" provides a powerful statement of the importance of thinking through the humanities for any non-reductive understanding of the meaning of mental distress, and gives compelling insights on a range of problems, including the understanding and representation of mental distress, the history of symptoms and critiques of psychiatry, and what a critical practice within mental health care means. At the heart of this collection lies a concern with the experience of mental distress as central to any understanding of what it means to be human.