I am a social philosopher currently working in areas related to mental illness, chronic illness and disability.
In 2021 I co-founded the Philosophy of Psychiatry and Lived Experience (POPLEX) network with Sofia Jeppsson and Paul Lodge and have since been involved with organising our yearly workshops.
Publications
Until I can fully update this website, please see my Philpapers page for a list of my publications.
Current work
I am always primarily interested in social phenomena – if I try writing something else, it ends up being social philosophy anyway. I am also interested in methodological innovation is philosophy, in particular auto-theory.
Over the last few years, my work has been primarily on the social philosophy of mental illness. Not philosophy of psychiatry, as I am not primarily concerned with psychiatry and medical models of psychiatric disorders, and not philosophy of madness, as I don’t consider myself as someone who (primarily) uses the tools and methods of Mad philosophy. Of course, there are overlaps in methods and themes regardless and some of my papers might end up fitting more comfortably under one of these alternative headings.
As part of this interest in social philosophy of mental illness, I have been working on a book on the philosophy of self harm, including the ethics and morality of this complex behaviour. Sometimes it seems as if this book will never be finished, as major life events just keep getting in the way.
I am now developing new work towards establishing a social metaphysics of chronic illness type disabilities, whether mental or physical disorders.
Papers I am (meant to be) working on
- The role of minoritised scholars in academia: Lessons from democratic deliberation
- Disabilities are hidden, not invisible
- Self-diagnosis and shared decision-making in psychiatric diagnosis
- Pregnancy trauma
- The use of metaphors when we talk about mental illness
- Flashbacks and memories, exploring the difference
Contact: zsuzsanna.chappell@gmail.com