Psychotic Crisis and the Teaching of Psychopathology

Psychopathology is the science that studies and classifies different mental states or mental disorders; it has been adjusting to socio-cultural changes since the time of Pinel. Positivist philosophy has greatly influenced the way psychopathology is taught and learned by students of medicine and psychology. If we add to this the current society of consumerism, immediacy and the culture of having rather than being, we have a set of factors that hinder the technical and human training of professionals in these areas. The aim of this book is to explore and contextualise the following themes: art and madness, the anti-asylum movement, the curriculum and teaching of psychopathology in psychology courses, models of science, understanding and learning, and professional training beyond academia. In addition to examining these issues, we point to possibilities for teaching and understanding the human phenomenon of madness.