The AutSide
The AutSide Podcast
Episode 285: Psychiatry, Empire, and the Myth of Objectivity
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Episode 285: Psychiatry, Empire, and the Myth of Objectivity

Today’s episode argues that the concept of objectivity, particularly within psychiatry and as embodied by the DSM, is not neutral but rather a colonial technology rooted in Cartesian philosophy. This framework, Dr. Jaime Hoerricks contends, dislocates suffering from its social and historical contexts, pathologising structural harms like poverty or systemic violence as individual mental illnesses. Instead, she advocates for a relational understanding of distress, proposing that true healing and mental well-being are fostered through communal support, justice, and the restoration of relational fields, rather than through individual medical diagnoses and interventions. Ultimately, she calls for an epistemic refusal of this detached objectivity, embracing embodied and relational ways of knowing as a path toward decolonial neurodivergence and a more holistic approach to well-being.

Here’s the link to the source article: https://open.substack.com/pub/autside/p/neutrality-was-never-neutral-objectivity

Let me know what you think.

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