Re-thinging Embodied and Enactive Psychiatry: A Material Engagement Approach.
Culture, medicine and psychiatry December 1, 2024 Lambros Malafouris, Frank Röhricht 8 citations
Philosophers and embodied mind theorists increasingly agree that understanding mental illness requires looking beyond the brain to the surrounding ecology. This paper argues that adopting Material Engagement Theory (MET) can reshape debates about mental disorders and improve treatment. Using schizophrenia and dementia as examples, the authors examine how material objects, habits, practices, and environments influence memory, self-awareness, embodiment, and temporality—phenomena shared across these conditions. Studying socio-material relations reveals the semiotic significance and agency of specific materials, environments, and technical mediations. The approach offers unrealized potential for creating new treatments that broaden, challenge, or complement existing interventions and care practices.