The Social Construction of Health and Illness: Achieving a Full and Rich Life: Stigma, Agency, and the Biomedical Model of Mental Illness (Webinar) November 2, 2021

Description:

In this talk, Dr. Gosselin explores how mental illness stigma dehumanizes people and reduces the agency of people with mental illness and the ways in which the biomedical model of mental illness can contribute to the diminishment of agency. She approaches this talk as someone who has researched the relationship between stigma, social interaction, and agency extensively and who has experienced mental illness. Audience members will learn about the nature of mental illness stigma, how stigma decreases social interaction and consequently diminishes agency, and how the biomedical model of mental illness can contribute to stigma and decreased agency even as it can also be very beneficial to those who have mental illness.

By the end of this workshop you will be able to

• Develop skills related to critical and creative thinking, inquiry, and reflection.
• Explore how different ways of knowing shape health practice.
• Examine how cultural beliefs and values influence our understanding of and approaches to health.
• Consider patient perspectives and narratives as tools for fostering better relationships.
• Explore the role of health professionals in modern society as a product of history, culture, and the social structure.

Log in information will be sent to webinar registrants prior to the event.

Bio: Abigail Gosselin is a Professor in the Department of Philosophy at Regis University in Denver, Colorado. She is the author of Mental Patient: Psychiatric Ethics from a Patient’s Perspective

(MIT Press, forthcoming), Humanizing Mental Illness: Enhancing Agency through Social Interaction (McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2021), and Global Poverty and Individual Responsibility (Lexington, 2009). In addition, she has published numerous papers in social philosophy, including papers on mental illness stigma, injustices in the medicalization of mental disorders, the ethics of philosophizing from first person experience, narrative ethics, and human rights.

Facilitators: Susan Wingert and guest speaker Dr. Abigail Gosselin