This unit examines a range of ethical issues within neuroscience and mental health, and how our understanding of these issues is important for research, diagnosis, treatment, and policy making. Students will not only examine how contemporary scientific practices have ethical, social, cultural and legal implications, they will also examine how ethical, social, and cultural factors can affect our understanding of neuroscience and mental health, and the underlying assumptions of researchers in these fields. In doing this, they will synthesise and integrate knowledge from other areas of neuroscience and mental health. The course aspires to inform future decision-makers in health, public policy, clinical settings and academia of the unique contributions and skills that biomedical ethics provides to the fields of mental health and neuroscience. Topics may include the nature of psychiatric disorders and their relationship with prevailing social and cultural factors, the implications of new technology for treatment and enhancement, the philosophical basis of the concept of mental disorder, the extent to which neuroscience can or cannot help us understand and treat mental illnesses, the relationship between researchers and public understanding of the research, the relationship between power, the psychiatric profession, and the categorisation of patients, the complex relationship between morality, mental health and the law, and whether scientific research can help us answer philosophical questions.
Unit details and rules
Academic unit | Brain and Mind Science |
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Credit points | 6 |
Prerequisites
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None |
Corequisites
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None |
Prohibitions
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None |
Assumed knowledge
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None |
Available to study abroad and exchange students | No |
Teaching staff
Coordinator | Eryn Werry, eryn.werry@sydney.edu.au |
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