Silence in Mood Disorders

This book deploys concepts and insights from philosophy of psychiatry, phenomenology, and social epistemology to elucidate the role of silence in the lives of individuals with mental disorder. It contends that lived experiences of silence play underappreciated and vital roles in the lives of many people with mental disorders, and that a better understanding of these roles could enhance mental healthcare and policy.

Despite the importance of silence in relation to mental health, empirically orientated mental health professionals and researchers have paid little attention to lived experiences of silence. Philosophers of medicine and medical humanities scholars, meanwhile, have neglected silence generally. Drawing on first-hand accounts of individuals with depression and bipolar disorder from different genders and ethnicities, this book sheds light on the variety and meaning of the silences that people with such disorders experience. The book develops a taxonomy of such silences based on their phenomenological structure, which is then used to suggest improvements to mental healthcare practice, policy, and activism. Among other things, it shows that a better understanding of silences in mental disorder can help us identify and nurture instances of silence that support recovery.

Silence in Mood Disorders will appeal to scholars and advanced students working in philosophy of psychiatry, phenomenology, disability studies, and the medical humanities.