Birkbeck Centre for Interdisciplinary Research on Mental Health
Birkbeck Centre for Interdisciplinary Research on Mental Health
Birkbeck’s Centre for Interdisciplinary Research on Mental Health fosters multi-perspectival collaboration across the Arts, Humanities, Social and Psychological Sciences.
Mission statement
Our work aims to enable a better understanding of the experiences and treatment of mental ill health and intellectual disability; the social, political and philosophical debates surrounding them; and their representations in literature and culture, past and present. We place different perspectives on mental health research in dialogue with one another in ways which challenge boundaries and create new collaborations and hybrid approaches. In so doing, we also seek to strengthen connections and solidarities across research, practitioner and lived experience communities. Our view is that this type of collaborative approach is fundamental to improving mental health in its cultural context, challenging stigma, and to the delivery of therapeutic interventions and services.
Summary of relevant work
Our members conduct qualitative social science and humanities research on mental health in the UK, Europe and Africa. This includes studies in the workplace and schools, as well as community and health-service settings. We have strengths in methodological innovation, from approaches including Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA), oral history, arts-based participatory approaches, ethnographic, psychosocial and philosophical methods. We also provide a platform for the discussion and dissemination of new approaches to researching lived experience, in partnership with colleagues in the UK and abroad.