Overview

A Structuralist Approach in Psychiatry presents an alternative view of the psychiatric patient and highlights a connection with continental post-structuralist thinking to provide a new approach to psychiatry. After outlining the problems facing psychiatry, and the historical development of the field, this book outlines a structuralist model of the subject that does greater justice to the complexity involved while avoiding physicalist reductionism. It draws heavily on French structuralism, in which language plays a central structuring role that also influences the subject. The author draws on the works of Foucault, Lacan, and Bergson, as well as Nietzsche, Heidegger, and Žižek. The structuralist model proposed engages with the intricate relationships between the Real, the Imaginary, and the Symbolic in relation to the subject, particularly in the marginality of psychosis. Three clinical examples are provided to illustrate this: the syndromes of Cotard, Capgras, and negative hallucination. These examples demonstrate how the negative within the subject manifests itself in their symptomatology. However, the negative also plays a role in the normal development of the subject when they encounter the Symbolic and enter the world of language. Time and again, the subject must reinvent themselves through speech. This model, grounded in the concept of the zero point, has implications for an alternative anthropology and for psychiatry, where speaking and listening take center stage. This book will be of interest to mental healthcare professionals, including psychiatric nurses, psychiatrists, psychologists, and physician assistants, and those studying to enter these professions.

Full Product Details

9781041146322

Table of Contents

Reviews

“In clear prose, Jos de Kroon presents an alternative to current psychiatry, which seems to have had its day. His point of departure is a structuralist approach in which more space and freedom is reserved for the subject.” Professor Marc De Kesel, Radboud University, Nijmegen, the Netherlands “A Structuralist Approach in Psychiatry is an atypical psychiatric book that challenges the dominant naturalistic and mechanistic paradigms of contemporary psychiatry. While engaging with crucial questions of diagnosis and treatment, it critiques mainstream psychiatric discourse through the lens of structuralist linguistics, Lacanian psychoanalysis, and continental philosophy. De Kroon argues for a structuralist psychiatry that recognizes the subject as fundamentally shaped by its symbolic and discursive environment, rather than reducing mental illness to neurobiological determinants. Through a nuanced reading of concepts from Saussure, Lacan, Heidegger, and Žižek, he explores how ‘nothingness’ operates as a creative force in subject formation and in psychosis. With case discussions on Cotard’s syndrome, Capgras syndrome, and negative hallucinations, the book demonstrates how symbolic disruptions manifest in clinical practice. Rather than merely confronting psychiatry with philosophy, De Kroon constructs a bridge between psychoanalytic theory and psychiatric treatment, making a compelling plea for a paradigm shift in mental health care.” Professor Stijn Vanheule, University of Ghent, Belgium

“In clear prose, Jos de Kroon presents an alternative to current psychiatry, which seems to have had its day. His point of departure is a structuralist approach in which more space and freedom are reserved for the subject.” Professor Marc De Kesel, Radboud University, Nijmegen, the Netherlands “A Structuralist Approach in Psychiatry is an atypical psychiatric book that challenges the dominant naturalistic and mechanistic paradigms of contemporary psychiatry. While engaging with crucial questions of diagnosis and treatment, it critiques mainstream psychiatric discourse through the lens of structuralist linguistics, Lacanian psychoanalysis, and continental philosophy. De Kroon argues for a structuralist psychiatry that recognizes the subject as fundamentally shaped by its symbolic and discursive environment, rather than reducing mental illness to neurobiological determinants. Through a nuanced reading of concepts from Saussure, Lacan, Heidegger, and Žižek, he explores how ‘nothingness’ operates as a creative force in subject formation and in psychosis. With case discussions on Cotard’s syndrome, Capgras syndrome, and negative hallucinations, the book demonstrates how symbolic disruptions manifest in clinical practice. Rather than merely confronting psychiatry with philosophy, De Kroon constructs a bridge between psychoanalytic theory and psychiatric treatment, making a compelling plea for a paradigm shift in mental health care.” Professor Stijn Vanheule, University of Ghent, Belgium

Author Information

Jos de Kroon is a psychiatrist, psychotherapist and psychoanalyst working at the Reinier van Arkel Institution of Mental Health in Den Bosch, the Netherlands. He publishes on the subjects of psychiatry and science, Freud, and Lacan. His publications include: Language and psychosis (1993), The history of psychiatry (1999), About the soul (2007), The voice of the Other (2010, about verbal hallucinations), and Hamlet versus Oedipus or a matrixial orientation? (2020), and Discomfort and Desire - A Lacanian View of the Subject in the Age of Artificial Intelligence (2026).

Tab Content 6

Countries Available