The Concept of Emotional Disorder - International Perspectives In Philosophy & Psychiatry

Abstract

This book examines judgements about emotional health and pathology, with the aim of understanding the conceptual structure of these judgements. This is essential for adjudicating the debate about whether psychiatry (over)-pathologizes ordinary emotional experiences, and more broadly, for understanding the place of emotions—especially distressing and unpleasant emotions—in a form of life in which flourishing, personal and moral agency, and self-identity matter. This investigation into the concept of emotional disorder promises to enrich our understanding of the value of emotions in human life. It also introduces new considerations that are germane to the debate about the concept of mental disorder.