Moving Beyond Stigma and Blame: A Phenomenology of Desire and Choice in Suicidal Ideation in Depressed Patients

Danica Christine Janse Van Vuuren

Deakin Philosophy Seminar Series   Dr Danica Janse van Vuuren (Deakin), "Moving Beyond Stigma and Blame: A Phenomenology of Desire and Choice in Suicidal Ideation in Depressed Patients"   When patients with major depressive disorder  (MDD) convey feeling suicidal, many are met with stigma and blame from their treating physician. It is asserted by some treating physicians that (1) such patients have a selfish desire to die, such as to end their own pain at the devastating expense of those their suicide would impact; and (2) that such patients are ultimately in control of whether they choose to act on their suicidal ideation (SI). Through an evaluation of disruptions in temporality, agency, and conative drive via what Thomas Fuchs (2012) terms existential feelings of illbeing, I show phenomenologically that such patients often inhabit a very different state of being compared to that of their treating physician and those who are otherwise not suicidally depressed. I maintain that such patients do not usually want to die, but instead, feel that they ‘have’ to die and feel incapable of choosing not to end their life. I  finally provide the start of a phenomenological account on how to more coherently, effectively, and thus justly address such patients.   BIO: Danica Janse van Vuuren holds a PhD from Deakin University. Her publications include work in the overlap between existential phenomenology and psychiatry on feelings of worthlessness in suicidal depression and addressing the problem of suicide in depression and incoherent forms of stigma towards such patients. Her further areas of focus include bioethics and subjectivity.   When: Tuesday 24th March 12:30pm-2pm (AEDST)

In-person: C2.05 Burwood Campus, 221 Burwood Highway, Burwood VIC 3125

Online: https://deakin.zoom.us/j/86789488516?pwd=hiwAsIxc2gZbZrPOYYQSnejInPGx26.1&from=addon