Schizophrenia: 100 Years On – Newcastle Philosophical Society Seminar Series

2011 marks the 100^th anniversary of the introduction of the diagnosis of schizophrenia, the most severe, enigmatic and controversial of mental disorders. At a time when biological and neuroscientific accounts of schizophrenia dominate, there is a risk that crucial questions are closed off as we await the promised conquering of madness and distress by scientific and technological advances.

Through exploring schizophrenia from a variety of perspectives including cultural theory, psychotherapy, sociology, psychiatry and philosophy, this series of talks, convened by the Newcastle Philosophical Society, aims to open up key questions and reinvigorate debate on this fascinating and most important of subjects.

Monday 28^th February, 7pm: Schizophrenia – 100 Years of Controversy
Angela Woods is a researcher at the Centre for Medical Humanities, Durham University. She is author of The Sublime Object of Psychiatry: Schizophrenia in Clinical and Cultural Theory, to be published in early 2011.

Monday 28^th March, 7pm: Survivors of Torture – Broken Minds and Voices
Tony Wright is a counsellor working for the Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture. He has written about stigma and intercultural aspects of working with survivors of torture.

Monday 18^th April, 7pm: Between Sedgwick and Szasz: Schizophrenia as ‘Illness’ and ‘Myth’ Mark Cresswell is a lecturer in the School of Applied Social Sciences, Durham University. His research interests include the Sociology of Medicine and Psychiatry and the History of Radical Thought.

[note date change] Saturday 21^st May, 2pm: Decadence, Deterioration and the Cultural Birth of Schizophrenia Philip Thomas is a psychiatrist and a philosopher. He is author of The Dialectics of Schizophrenia and co-author of Postpsychiatry: Mental Health in a Postmodern World.

Venue: The Cedar Room, Upstairs at The Dog and Parrot, 52 Clayton Street West, Newcastle, NE1 4EX (2 minutes walk from Central Station)

Cost: Free

For further information, email series convenor Anthony Morgan, call/text: 07913 325514 or visit: www.newphilsoc.org.uk