The Department of English Language and Literature of Partium Christian University and Mathias Corvinus Collegium would like to welcome everyone to an open discussion about taboos and our mental health.
In the last fifteen years, in the Anglosphere at least, talking about one's mental health has shifted from taboo to something we are all encouraged to do. Losing taboos is generally positive. Yet, we increasingly see 'mental health' applied to everything. We use and abuse psychological categories to dismiss those with whom we might disagree or not get along with. As we see psychological categories shift from diagnoses with 'use-value' to identities that are held to express personal 'truth/values', it is worth asking whether the 'mental health' movement has gone too far. In this lecture, Dr Calum T. M. Nicholson will explore the history and purpose of psychology, examine how it has evolved in the last few years, and discuss the implications of this.
Dr Calum T. M. Nicholson studied social anthropology at Cambridge, migration studies at Oxford, and completed his PhD in human geography. Earlier, he served as a development consultant and a researcher for the UK Parliament. He researches the social consequences of climate change and the impact of social media. He is currently a visiting fellow at MCC and Danube Institute.
