PhilSci Archive

Outline for an Externalist Psychiatry (2): An Anthropological Detour

Ongaro, Giulio (2024) Outline for an Externalist Psychiatry (2): An Anthropological Detour. Philosophy, Psychiatry, & Psychology, 31 (3). pp. 285-300.

This is the latest version of this item.

[img] Text
Externalist psychiatry 2.pdf
Download (564kB)

Abstract

Philosophical speculation about how psychiatric externalism might function in practice has yet to fully consider the multitude of externalist psychiatric systems that exist beyond the bounds of modern psychiatry. Believing that anthropology can inform philosophical debate on the matter, the paper illustrates one such case. The discussion is based on 19 months of first-hand ethnographic fieldwork among Akha, a group of swidden farmers living in highland Laos and neighboring borderlands. First, the paper describes the Akha set of medicinal, ritual, and shamanic practices, analyzing issues of stigma and medical pluralism within it. Second, it makes the case that the Akha realize a functioning biopsychosocial system which comes with a well-developed set of resources for treating the social dimension of illness. Externalism among the Akha re-frames psychiatric illness as a ‘problem in living,’ which becomes manageable as such. The paper claims that, in so doing, the Akha system succeeds in many of the areas where modern internalist psychiatry falls short, and that it does so because Akha society is structured in such a way so that its practitioners can shift the social environment around the patient. As a takeaway for philosophers, it suggests that the development of an externalist psychiatry must begin from questioning the accepted ontology of the social causes of psychiatric illness.

Export/Citation: EndNote | BibTeX | Dublin Core | ASCII/Text Citation (Chicago) | HTML Citation | OpenURL
Social Networking:
Share |
Item Type: Published Article or Volume
Creators:
CreatorsEmailORCID
Ongaro, Giuliohmongaro@ust.hk0000-0003-2782-0642
Keywords: Biopsychosocial model; ethnopsychiatry; stigma; shamanism; medical pluralism; externalist psychiatry
Subjects: Specific Sciences > Anthropology
General Issues > Causation
Specific Sciences > Medicine > Psychiatry
Depositing User: Dr. Giulio Ongaro
Date Deposited: 27 Sep 2024 11:54
Last Modified: 27 Sep 2024 11:54
Item ID: 23959
Journal or Publication Title: Philosophy, Psychiatry, & Psychology
Official URL: https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/article/937773
DOI or Unique Handle: https://doi.org/10.1353/ppp.2024.a937773
Subjects: Specific Sciences > Anthropology
General Issues > Causation
Specific Sciences > Medicine > Psychiatry
Date: 23 September 2024
Page Range: pp. 285-300
Volume: 31
Number: 3
URI: https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/23959

Available Versions of this Item

Monthly Views for the past 3 years

Monthly Downloads for the past 3 years

Plum Analytics

Altmetric.com

Actions (login required)

View Item View Item