Philosophy SIG psychopathology workshop

Philosophical psychopathology: bridging descriptive accounts with first-person perspectives. An interdisciplinary workshop

We are very pleased to announce our first interdisciplinary workshop on philosophically informed psychopathology, that will bring together clinicians and philosophers working in the field of mental health. The title of what we expect to be a thought-provoking workshop is “Philosophical Psychopathology: Bridging Descriptive Accounts with First-Person Perspectives. An interdisciplinary workshop”.

This interdisciplinary workshop is designed for psychiatrists, researchers, and students in the fields of philosophy, psychology, and psychiatry. It will provide an in-depth exploration of the relationship between descriptive accounts of psychopathology and first-person experiences of mental illness.

Participants will have the opportunity to engage in interactive discussions with leading experts in the field, and exchange ideas on key aspects of the clinical presentation and subjective experience of people suffering with mental illness and how they relate to their clinical observations.

Don't miss this chance to gain a deeper understanding of philosophical psychopathology and its impact on the way we understand and treat mental illness.

There is a limited number of places, so early registration is advised.

The current programme and list of speaker bios can be viewed here.

Professor Femi Oyebode graduated from University of Ibadan with distinction in Medicine in 1977 & trained as a psychiatrist in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne. He has been Consultant Psychiatrist in Birmingham since 1986 and Honorary Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Birmingham since 1999. He was Head of Department of Psychiatry from 2003-2009. He is Associate Editor the British Journal of Psychiatry, & on the Editorial Boards of BJPsych Bulletin and BJPsych Advances. He was Chief Examiner of the Royal College of Psychiatrists from 2002 to 2005. He has been ASB Visiting Professor at University of Auckland, Raine Visiting Professor at University of Western Australia, & Visiting Professor University of Ibadan. His research interests include clinical psychopathology, delusional misidentification syndromes, medical humanities and medical ethics. 

He is author of Sims’ Symptoms in the Mind (4-6th editions), Madness and the Theatre and edited Mindreadings: Literature and Psychiatry. He is also a poet and literary critic. His volumes of poetry include Naked to your softness & other dreams, Master of the Leopard Hunt and Adagio for Oblong Mirrors. He contributed critical essays to the Oxford Companion to 20th century Poetry and Oxford Companion to Modern Poetry. He received the Royal College of Psychiatrists’ Lifetime Achievement Award in 2016 and the highest award of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, the Honorary FRCPsych., in 2019.

Professor Francesca Brencio is Associate Researcher in Philosophy at the University of Seville (Spain). She leads the Pheno-Lab, A Theoretical Laboratory on Philosophy and Mental Health, member of The Phenomenology and Mental Health Network at University of Oxford (UK) and of the Advisory Council of the Martin Heidegger Society. She is also Executive Committee Member of The Royal College of Psychiatrists - Special Interest Group in Philosophy. In March 2021 she received The Seal of Excellence, awarded by the European Commission, as the institution managing Horizon 2020, in the frame of EU Programme for Research and Innovation 2014-2020. Since January 2022 she is member of the Philosophy of Psychiatry Educators Network as part of the International Network for Philosophy and Psychiatry.

She studied Philosophy at University of Perugia (Italy), Theology at the Theological Institute in Assisi associated to Pontificia Universitas Lateranensis (Città del Vaticano) and awarded a Ph.D. in Philosophy and Human Sciences from the University of Perugia (Italy).

She worked as post-doctoral researcher at the Western Sydney University (Australia) and the Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg (Germany). She was Visiting Professor in the USA for the Winter Semester 2017 at the Hillsdale College (Michigan), Wisconsin University, and The SUNY in Buffalo.

Her fields of investigation are phenomenology, hermeneutics, phenomenological psychopathology, philosophy of psychiatry, and Heidegger Studies. Among many publications in International Journals of Philosophy and Psychiatry she has authored and edited the following books: F. Brencio (2023), (ed.) Phenomenology, Neuroscience and Clinical Practice. Transdisciplinary Experiences, Springer (forthcoming); S. Ferrarello, F. Brencio, V. Bizzari, M. Englander (2023), “Phenomenological Psychopathology: Who, What and How? An analysis of key figures, advancements and challenges”, Special Issue of Frontiers in Psychology (forthcoming). She is among the contributors of The Oxford Handbook of Phenomenological Psychopathology (Oxford University Press, Oxford 2019), Storia della Fenomenologia Clinica (UTET, Torino 2020), and APA Handbook of Humanistic and Existential Psychology (American Philosophical Association Press, - forthcoming).

The event will take place at the Royal College of Psychiatrists, 21 Prescot Street, London E1 8BB. You can view directions and a map to help you plan your journey.

The Citymapper website/app can help you plan your route within London, giving the best walking, cycling, bus and tube routes available. Use postcode E1 8BB as your destination.

This event will only take place in-person. When booking onto this event you will only have the option to attend the conference in-person, there is no option to attend virtually/watch a live-stream of the event.

Please note that this conference will not be recorded.

Please read our terms and conditions before making your booking.

If you have any questions, please contact Catriona Grant via email: sigs@rcpsych.ac.uk

Please also email with any dietary or accessibility requirements by 30 March 2023.