The Philosophy Department at the University of Memphis is hosting the Mental Illness and Power conference Friday and Saturday to tackle controversial issues surrounding mental illness.
"There are a lot of issues in the air at the moment around mental illness and questions about what should and shouldn't be covered in terms of treatment and health care reform," conference organizer and philosophy graduate student Michael Butler said.
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, also known as DSM-5, sets the tone for what can and can't be diagnosed by medical practitioners, and it has garnered criticism.
"Certain things have been dropped and certain things have been added," Butler said. "The methodology with which they made those decisions has been questioned."
On mass shootings, graduate student and conference organizer Alberto Dejarano-Romo hopes the conference will spark questions about the state's duty to the criminal mentally ill.
"We need to be talking about how we should treat criminally insane people, and how we define criminally insane people," Dejarano-Romo said.
The focus of the conference will center on the relationship between mental illness and power and how the two co-exist.
Measures of authority like the DSM-5 and the Affordable Health Care Act are important in determining the treatment of the mentally ill.
"Mental illness is not something that exists outside of structures of power," Butler said. "It is defined by evaluative boards in the case of DSM-5 or what is or isn't covered in government and legal systems."
Bringing in people from different disciplines and outside academia was important to the conference's organizers.
"We thought a more serious discourse was necessary and we thought bringing together people from different fields would be fruitful," Dejarano-Romo said.
Butler and Dejarano-Romo expect attendees to vary from medical practitioners, academics from various departments, students and anybody from the public who is interested.
According to Butler, the event will be a great opportunity to network for students interested in this topic or those who may have a career involved in mental health.
The conference will feature two speakers - David M. Goodman, a Lesley University assistant professor of psychology, and Mary Beth Mader, U of M philosophy graduate director.
Goodman will present "The McDonaldization of Mental Health: Science, Language and Social Class" at 5 p.m. on Friday in the University Center River Room with interdisciplinary panels from 1 to 5 p.m.
Mader's keynote speech "Say When It Hurts: The Time of Pathology in Mental Illness," will be held Saturday in the University Center River Room at 3 p.m. with interdisciplinary panels from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
