The new philosophy of psychiatry: its (recent) past, present and future: a review of the Oxford University Press series International Perspectives in Philosophy and Psychiatry

There has been a recent growth in philosophy of psychiatry that draws heavily (although not exclusively) on analytic philosophy with the aim of a better understanding of psychiatry through an analysis of some of its fundamental concepts. This 'new philosophy of psychiatry' is an addition to both analytic philosophy and to the broader interpretation of mental health care. Nevertheless, it is already a flourishing philosophical field. One indication of this is the new Oxford University Press series International Perspectives in Philosophy and Psychiatry seven volumes of which (by Bolton and Hill; Bracken and Thomas; Fulford, Morris, Sadler, and Stanghellini; Hughes, Louw, and Sabat; Pickering; Sadler; and Stanghellini) are examined in this critical review. Background: the recent past Philosophy of psychiatry in the English-speaking world has broad historical roots, ranging across many traditions of thought in Europe, the UK and the USA. The phenomenological-existential tradition of psychoanalytic theory, Anglo-American analytic philosophy and streams of the Continental tradition have all influenced and shaped the field. However, in recent years there has been a growth in philosophy of psychiatry which draws heavily (although not exclusively) on broadly analytic philosophy and which aims to at a better understanding of psychiatry through an analysis of some of its fundamental concepts. This 'new philosophy of psychiatry' is thus a comparatively recent addition to both analytic philosophy and to the broader interpretation of mental health care. Nevertheless, it is already a flourishing philosophical field. Over the last fifteen years or so there has been considerable research activity in this area. Signs of that activity include: • the launch of the journal Philosophy, Psychiatry and Psychology in 1994 co-edited in the US and UK, supported by the Association for the Advancement of Philosophy and Psychiatry (AAPP) which fosters close associations with the American Psychiatric Association. • the two main centres of excellence in the UK: the masters programme in philosophy of mental disorder at King's College London and the new Institute for Philosophy, Diversity and Mental Health at the University of Central Lancashire which will shortly launch its own distance learning masters in Philosophy and Mental Health based on the Oxford Textbook of Philosophy and Psychiatry. • the established annual series of International Conferences on Philosophy, Psychiatry and Psychology which has met recently in Florence, Heidelberg, Yale and Leiden and will be at Sun City, South Africa in 2007. Conferences are planned till 2012. Published: 8 June 2007 Philosophy, Ethics, and Humanities in Medicine 2007, 2:9 doi:10.1186/1747-5341-2-9 Received: 26 March 2007 Accepted: 8 June 2007 This article is available from: http://www.peh-med.com/content/2/1/9 © 2007 Banner and Thornton; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.