Moncrieff’s views on the nature of mental illness: the false binary between disease and behavior
This post is a way for me to reflect on Joanna Moncrieff’s article “ It Was the Brain Tumor That Done It!” Szasz and Wittgenstein on the Importance of Distinguishing Disease from Behavior and Implications for the Nature of Mental Disorder " published in Philosophy, Psychiatry, & Psychology . I find myself in substantial disagreement with the assumptions and conclusions of Moncrieff’s article, so in this post I will try to unpack some major points of contention. An abbreviated version of this post will later be submitted to the journal as a formal commentary. In section 1 I focus on the major points of my commentary. In section 2, I elaborate some of the arguments made earlier, and also address some minor points. In all sections and sub-sections, I quote liberally from the original article so that readers can contextualize the arguments being made. Section 1 The distinction between bodily processes (diseases) and self-directed behavior • “… the dis