Power and Pitfalls of Psychopathology: Marking 100 years since the publication of Karl Jaspers' General Psychopathology

A joint meeting with the Maudsley Philosophy Group in association with the London Division of the Royal College of Psychiatrists

The year 2013 marks the centenary of the publication of Jaspers' General Psychopathology; a text that has had an immense influence on psychiatry. Jaspers was both a psychiatrist and one of Europe's leading philosophers.

The centenary will give us an opportunity to review the foundations and ongoing relevance of phenomenological psychopathology in the era of genome mapping and explosion of neuroscience. Have Jaspers' formulations been fully taken advantage of and incorporated in today's understanding and treatment of mental illness or have valuable insights been lost? How do we integrate the domains of "understanding" and "causation" at a time when both knowledge and society are changing with increasing speed?

This conference will energetically return to the big themes of Jasperian psychiatry, testing them against current knowledge and contemporary debates. The conference will be suitable for psychiatrists, philosophers, psychotherapists, psychologists, social scientists and others.

Educational objectives
- Review the history and enduring relevance of Jaspers’ General Psychopathology and philosophy to contemporary psychiatry and mental health service provision
- Study the contribution of diverse responses to the phenomenological approach to the understanding of mental life and psychopathology, including the meaning and uses of empathy and social dimension of mental illness
- Integrate phenomenological, psychotherapeutic and neuroscience approaches to the assessment and treatment of mental illness and recovery

Early bird booking deadline: Tuesday 10 September 2013