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Free will and mental disorder: Exploring the relationship
A link between mental disorder and freedom is clearly present in the introduction of the fourth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV). It mentions “an important loss of freedom” as one of the possible defining features of mental disorder. Meanwhile, it remains...
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Formato: | Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
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Springer Netherlands
2010
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Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2975916/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20931360 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11017-010-9158-5 |
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author | Meynen, Gerben |
author_facet | Meynen, Gerben |
author_sort | Meynen, Gerben |
collection | PubMed |
description | A link between mental disorder and freedom is clearly present in the introduction of the fourth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV). It mentions “an important loss of freedom” as one of the possible defining features of mental disorder. Meanwhile, it remains unclear how “an important loss of freedom” should be understood. In order to get a clearer view on the relationship between mental disorder and (a loss of) freedom, in this article, I will explore the link between mental disorder and free will. I examine two domains in which a connection between mental disorder and free will is present: the philosophy of free will and forensic psychiatry. As it turns out, philosophers of free will frequently refer to mental disorders as conditions that compromise free will and reduce moral responsibility. In addition, in forensic psychiatry, the rationale for the assessment of criminal responsibility is often explained by referring to the fact that mental disorders can compromise free will. Yet, in both domains, it remains unclear in what way free will is compromised by mental disorders. Based on the philosophical debate, I discuss three senses of free will and explore their relevance to mental disorders. I conclude that in order to further clarify the relationship between free will and mental disorder, the accounts of people who have actually experienced the impact of a mental disorder should be included in future research. |
format | Text |
id | pubmed-2975916 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2010 |
publisher | Springer Netherlands |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-29759162010-11-29 Free will and mental disorder: Exploring the relationship Meynen, Gerben Theor Med Bioeth Article A link between mental disorder and freedom is clearly present in the introduction of the fourth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV). It mentions “an important loss of freedom” as one of the possible defining features of mental disorder. Meanwhile, it remains unclear how “an important loss of freedom” should be understood. In order to get a clearer view on the relationship between mental disorder and (a loss of) freedom, in this article, I will explore the link between mental disorder and free will. I examine two domains in which a connection between mental disorder and free will is present: the philosophy of free will and forensic psychiatry. As it turns out, philosophers of free will frequently refer to mental disorders as conditions that compromise free will and reduce moral responsibility. In addition, in forensic psychiatry, the rationale for the assessment of criminal responsibility is often explained by referring to the fact that mental disorders can compromise free will. Yet, in both domains, it remains unclear in what way free will is compromised by mental disorders. Based on the philosophical debate, I discuss three senses of free will and explore their relevance to mental disorders. I conclude that in order to further clarify the relationship between free will and mental disorder, the accounts of people who have actually experienced the impact of a mental disorder should be included in future research. Springer Netherlands 2010-10-08 2010 /pmc/articles/PMC2975916/ /pubmed/20931360 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11017-010-9158-5 Text en © The Author(s) 2010 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial License which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. |
spellingShingle | Article Meynen, Gerben Free will and mental disorder: Exploring the relationship |
title | Free will and mental disorder: Exploring the relationship |
title_full | Free will and mental disorder: Exploring the relationship |
title_fullStr | Free will and mental disorder: Exploring the relationship |
title_full_unstemmed | Free will and mental disorder: Exploring the relationship |
title_short | Free will and mental disorder: Exploring the relationship |
title_sort | free will and mental disorder: exploring the relationship |
topic | Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2975916/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20931360 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11017-010-9158-5 |
work_keys_str_mv | AT meynengerben freewillandmentaldisorderexploringtherelationship |