Brady, Alison M;
(2022)
Mental health, resilience and existential literature.
Journal of Philosophy of Education
Journal of Philosophy of Education.
(In press).
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Abstract
In this paper, I will begin by charting some of the conceptions of mental health in young people today, paying particular attention to recent mental health education policies in England. I will focus on the concept of ‘resilience’ as central to these policies, and how this represents an impoverished understanding of mental health, what it means to ‘overcome’ mental health issues, and what, in fact, might constitute an ‘appropriate’ response to the world we (now) live in. In order to explore an alternative conception of mental health in light of this, I turn to an example from existentialist literature—Dostoevsky's Notes from underground. On the surface, this novel appears to be an account of a man suffering from a mental breakdown. Ultimately, however, I argue that texts such as this enable us to explore more fully what it is to experience mental health issues, and that also point us to the fundamental vulnerabilities and uncertainties that are an intimate part of being human.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Mental health, resilience and existential literature |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | Journal of Philosophy of Education |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/Journal of Philosophy of Education |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | © 2022 The Authors. Journal of Philosophy of Education published by JohnWiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Philosophy of Education Society of Great Britain. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
| Keywords: | anxiety, existentialism, mental health education, resilience, |
| UCL classification: | UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education > IOE - Education, Practice and Society UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education UCL |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10145608 |
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