Exploring Representations of the Mind, Brain and Mental Health

Mental health has often lacked the ‘medical’ or ‘scientific’ references of other medical specialties, reliant more on an individual’s symptoms and signs – especially their verbal account of their difficulties. A major challenge in mental health therefore is representing and illustrating subjective experiences and phenomena, at a time when there is increasing awareness and public discussion around mental health and wellbeing.

This project brings together researchers in psychiatry, neurology, and history to explore representations of the mind, brain and mental health throughout history c.1500 to the present. The research will also explore how these representations have influenced perceptions and practice and suggest how they could be used for future resources and interventions. These representations will include visual illustrations, text-based or narrative descriptions and audio/musical recordings.

The objective is to encourage dialogue and sustainable collaboration between disciplines which are invested in the shared project to understand representations of mental states and behaviour but rarely have opportunities to meaningfully engage.

The research outputs will include a programme of online resources including a podcast (involving a discussion among the researchers and collaborators), online talks, and a bilingual animation. These will be developed to engage a general audience, particularly those with an interest in mental health such as individuals with lived experience, carers, practitioners).