Prof. George William Brown OBE, FBA (1930–2026)

"George Brown was a huge figure in sociology and social psychiatry. At a time when social science and psychiatry were so riven with conceptual differences they could not work constructively, George’s approach was collaborative, courageous and imaginative. His work addressed real-world problems and in so doing greatly enriched mental health research."

Professor Matthew Hotopf, Executive Dean, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience:
https://www.kcl.ac.uk/news/professor-george-william-brown-obe-fba-19302026

Starting in Warrington School of Nursing (Winwick Hospital) as a student mental health nurse in October 1977 you can how that curriculum and programme of study came about; and influences on Brian Hodges' early career.

 

Hodges' Health Career - Care Domains - Model

 

 An individual's 'health career' is impacted by their life chances and life events.

 

 

individual

|
INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES             

humanistic ------------------------------- mechanistic

SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL   

|

group

Individual Psychology Life events PSYCHIATRY psycho-	Life events EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHIATRY
social Group Psychology Life events SOCIAL & CULTURAL  PSYCHIATRY	LIFE EVENTS  PSYCHO-POLITICAL PSYCHIATRY

See also:

Wing, J.K., & Brown, G.W. (1970). Institutionalism and Schizophrenia: A Comparative Study of Three Mental Hospitals 1960–1968. Cambridge; Cambridge University Press. 

Brown, G. & Harris, T. (1978) Social Origins of Depression. A Study of Psychiatric Disorder in Women. London: Tavistock.Google Scholar 

Brown G.W. & Harris, T. (1979) Social origins of depression: a study of psychiatric disorder in women, London: Tavistock Publications.

Brown, G. W., & Harris, T. O. (Eds.). (1989). Life events and illness. The Guilford Press.

My source: Patrick Kidd. Forum, Obituary, The Observer. 20th September, 2026, p.42.
https://observer.co.uk/profile/obituary/article/george-brown-the-former-post-office-boy-who-unlocked-the-mystery-of-depression

Previously: 'social sciences' : 'psychiatry' : 'determinants'

BMA: Beyond parity of esteem – Achieving parity of resource, access and outcome for mental health in England 2020

 In order to get to the 'truth' of parity of esteem may require more than one 'box':

Source: BMA

British Medical Association . Beyond parity of esteem – Achieving parity of resource, access and outcome for mental health in England. London: BMA; 2020. 

https://www.bma.org.uk/what-we-do/population-health/supporting-peoples-mental-health/beyond-parity-of-esteem-report

WPA/IACAPAP Global Curriculum Survey

Dear Neil et al.,

Would it be possible to recirculate this invitation to complete this ~5minute survey.

We recevied a good response (~200 with 72% expressing interest to join future steps) from the last round but we could have had more representation from Oceana, the Carribean, the Mediteranean, Central Asia, Russia, and perhaps more from any areas as emphasized in line 3 below.

Thank you in advance for your consideration, David
---------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Colleagues, Families, Relatives, Young Adults, Adults, and Friends!

Anyone affected or who knows someone who is affect by a mental health problem.

We need your help, especially from those living in remote urban or rural areas, or otherwise underserved regions anywhere in this wide world!

HELP US DESIGN A GLOBAL CHILD AND ADOLESCENT MENTAL HEALTH, PSYCHIATRY AND ALLIED PROFESSIONS TRAINING CURRICULUM FRAMEWORK IN SUPPORT OF LOCALLY INTEGRATED COMMUNITY AND FAMILY-CENTERED EDUCATION AND ACTION.

The International Association for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Allied Professions (IACAPAP)

and

The World Psychiatric Association (WPA) Child and Adolescent Section are developing the Global Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health Training curriculum FRAMEWORK.

To complete a short DESIGN feedback and ENGAGEMENT survey (~5 Minutes)

Click or Copy and Paste the following URL: https://forms.cloud.microsoft/r/x4MyX0MkYt

Here is A SHORT INFORMATIONAL VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/NdMRqb1LVVM

 

HIFA profile: David Cawthorpe is Adjunct Professor, Cumming School of Medicine, Department of Community Health Sciences; Adjunct Professor, Cumming School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry | Child and Adolescent Psychiatry; and Child Health & Wellness Researcher, Alberta Children's Hospital Research Institute, Canada. 
https://profiles.ucalgary.ca/david-cawthorpe cawthordATucalgary.ca

My source: HIFA.

ii 'GlobalMinds' - NHS study severe mental health problems

GlobalMinds has clearly stated goals and objectives. Three challenges that are highlighted:

1. Diagnosis can take years
2. Treatments target symptoms, not underlying causes
3. Half of the prescribed drugs cause severe side effects

These are, to put it mildly, highly contested issues. Diagnosis in mental health/illness is problematic in several respects, for example:

INDIVIDUAL

|

    INTERPERSONAL    :     SCIENCES               

HUMANISTIC --------------------------------------  MECHANISTIC      

SOCIOLOGY  :   POLITICAL 

|

GROUP

a) Lack of Theoretical, Practical and Philosophical(?) agreement between:  Psychology Psychiatry b) Individuals are self diagnosing c) Access to mental health services can be highly structure - single-point entry d) The evidence-base for treatment of mental illness is growing,but remains contested. e) Perhaps there is a phenomena of people getting stuck, with not just a label, but a mindset?	a) Loss of trust in classification/coding schemes: DSM b) Proposed alternatives in - Power Threat Meaning Framework HiTOP c) Data defined scientifically: existing diagnosis biomarker
a) Increased awareness of mental illness, ADHD.. b) Behavioural explanations for mental illness c) The determinants of mental illness (unlike, health?) are poorly researched (hence understood) d) The vocabulary of mental illness (psychiatry) is more widely disseminated, hence used; not necessarily with full contextual understanding e) Stigma associated with mental illness is nevertheless ongoing.	a) Reduced economic productivity b) The socio-economic phenomena of NEETs c) Increased demand on welfare benefits d) The role of primary care - GPs      - fit / sick notes      - 'functional assessors' (Who is best placed?) e) Loss of mental health beds, community compensations incomplete.

This will be a space to watch: and related (global) initiatives? 

Viewed from Hodges' health career - care domains - model, it appears an individual's life chances and expectations (family, and educational experience?) can result in their life chances being frozen?

'GlobalMinds' - NHS study severe mental health problems

Together we can change lives

Depression, bipolar, schizophrenia and related conditions affect millions of people around the world.

Yet mental health receives less than 1% of global research funding. 

This has left healthcare for these conditions stuck in the past:

Diagnosis can take years

Treatments target symptoms, not underlying causes

Half of the prescribed drugs cause severe side effects

GlobalMinds is a major research programme seeking to advance the understanding of mental health conditions and improve lives.

 

My source: 
News, NHS study to transform mental health treatment, The Times, 14 February, 2026, p.6

A definition of the 'Psycho-Political'

Clearing books, magazines and journals (to make space for a few new acquisitions) on a trip to Hay-on-Wye, I bought a secondhand copy of:

Weizsacker, Carl Friedrich von. (1980). The Unity of Nature.

I noticed chapters on the definition of health and illness, and information.

Models of Health and Illness, Good and Evil, Truth and Falseness

Chapter  Jun 2014 
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-03671-7
In book: Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker: Major Texts in Philosophy (pp.74-89)

Abstract

This essay is the core of our reflections on cybernetics. It is the only essay in this Part that tries to describe concretely what cybernetics can achieve. Written in the fall of 1967 but unpublished until now, it was inspired by a lecture on “Peacelessness as Mental Illness” delivered in Bethel in 1967 (published in Der ungesicherte Friede; Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1969). On that occasion the question arose whether it is medically justifiable, or merely metaphoric, to call the inability to maintain peace an illness. As far as I can see, contemporary medicine lacks a sufficiently clear concept of illness to decide this question. Since I had no desire to merely skirt the issue, I was faced with the task of outlining a scientifically justifiable definition of illness. The result is presented in Sect. 6.2 of this essay; its social application is very briefly sketched in Sect. 6.4.

(My emphasis)

Unfortunately, I cannot find a copy of the lecture. In my softback copy the title is "Lack of Peace as Psychic Illness".

We don't tend to think of mental illness in the collective, but history provides many examples within and extended across communities - 'mass psychogenic illness'. More recently there is a literature on the mental health, competency of global leaders, also known as 'hubris syndrome' previously. Even the history of Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker is controversial, his World War II record and knowledge of nuclear physics.

We have a veritable storm across all the domains of Hodges' model (including the spiritual) that point to the model's ongoing  relevance, consider:

• climate crisis;
• pollution (air, water ...)
• geopolitics;
• disruption of the international rules-based order;
• the status and reputation of global organisations (were they ever 'international'?);
• the record of current global political leadership;
• the need to protect Political titles (not just Professional titles, Dr, Nurse, ...)?;
• the rise of artificial intelligence.

Link: 
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/300477492_Models_of_Health_and_Illness_Good_and_Evil_Truth_and_Falseness?

Thoughts ii re. 2026 Lancaster Philosophy of Psychiatry Work in Progress Workshop

For me, applying Hodges' model I tend to place philosophy and psychiatry (mind, thought, belief, truth, intention ...) within the humanistic part of the model. So, Ewa Grzeszczak and - Philosophy of psychiatry and the methodology of social ontology - stood out. This is helpful as Homeostatic Property Clusters (HPC) are a useful structure, spanning bio-mathematics. As suggested previously with 'equality', we can place the philosophical non-trivial question of kinds at the centre of Hodges' model and proceed (if possible?) from there.

The requirement for a holistic, integrative and pluralistic framework is there in literature. A statement supported by Alessandra Civani's talk: 'What kind of concept is ‘incongruence’? I located a paper:

Enactive psychiatry - A pragmatic and pluralistic approach to mental health and disease

- (and now have a copy c/o and thanks to Alessandra) and am grateful to being pointed to de Haan:

An Enactive Approach to Psychiatry

 I will (must) return to these papers. Earlier on Hodges' model, I'd opined (as on 'X') how the -

• medical
• biomedical
• bio-psycho-social models - are insufficient in the 21st century.

There was a thematic feel to the presentations with Anna Golova - Self-illness ambiguity without a self-illness distinction - following nicely. The styling on the slides was an added bonus. I located an informative (co-authored) paper by Golova:

‘Is it me or my illness?’: self-illness ambiguity as a useful conceptual lens for psychiatry'

Part of the power of Hodges' model derives not so much from its duality; as its dual axes. The two axes can encompass and handle the relatedness between/within reductionism, holist perspectives, the self and otherness, illness and health (well-being).

An hours break brought us to an event which was very well attended, clearly open to the public:

6-7pm Prof Miriam Solomon – Royal Institute of Philosophy talk ‘Stigma as an actant in the history of psychiatry’

In setting out the talk's structure I liked Prof. Solomon's reference to the common, implicit "grime" theory of the dynamic of stigma, and "punching down" as a strategy for managing stigma. 'Grime' made me think of sense of smell, the grime in my father's work van, a diesel. Now so many memories are evoked with the merest whiff. More positively, the patina of physical and mental life also came to mind. You would - might think stigma has been dealt with by now, but of course we are socio-politically far from it.

There is a related podcast from 2025, which also covers Prof. Solomon's early studies. A previous paper was also noted in the slides:

Solomon, M. (2025). The Elusiveness of Hermeneutic Injustice in Psychiatric Categorizations. Social Epistemology, 39(2), 166–177. https://doi.org/10.1080/02691728.2024.2400068

 

Discussion of the DSM inevitably followed (and in the above podcast). In questions the 'reality' of severe mental illness, and suggestion of the acute challenge of managing the negative symptoms of psychoses.

 

Prof. Solomon's conclusion was well worth waiting for, including:

Stigma as an "actant" (cf. Bruno Latour's concept of an agent: causal role without intention)... DSM - ICD...

 

If stigma disappeared tomorrow, the DSM would not have the same categories. 

 

Stigma (more specifically, its management) is shaping the conceptual space, with both scientific and moral consequences.

[Added 4th March...] On Friday - Sam Fellowes, took on, or has taken on - the non-trivial issue of - Modelling psychiatric diagnoses when self-diagnosing - how does this work? Complexity was acknowledged on the first slide, with self-diagnosis, and modelling, set against the Duhem-Quine thesis. 

This technical aspect is welcome and no doubt essential given the socio-technical nature of diagnosis, touching as it does the public (society), primary care, psychiatry, service user groups, policymakers, informatics, and HM Treasury, amongst several 'stakeholders'. With the impact of the internet and social media, much (if not all?) of the vocabulary of mental health professionals has been co-opted and re-framed(?) by patient / service-user groups? It does not, for example, appear that the agency behind the DSM will be able to claim it back. Autism and ADHD were also discussed and debated. I located a previous chapter by Sam (pay-wall):

Fellowes S. Self-Diagnosis in Psychiatry and the Distribution of Social Resources. Royal Institute of Philosophy Supplement. 2023;94:55-76. doi:10.1017/S1358246123000218

 

This really is a thicket of thorns, it spreads as and wherever you go.

 

The welfare bill is such that there should have been government Ministers in attendance. I have responded on behalf of clients to PIP assessments. Agencies have invited me to interview for 'Disability Assessor' roles. Not only is this a complex web, but several logics obtain: a perverse temporal logic operates, binary logic and a fixed mindset can develop so that some (vulnerable!?) individuals can get stuck. Perhaps, a social imperative steps in and disrupts, life chances: their being a NEET ('a young person who is no longer in the education system and who is not working or being trained for work'. Ecosia) is better for someone else? 

 

To unpick, make sense of this, you need a foundational universal model.

 

There is a (co-authored) paper from Giulia Russo, who presented - Epistemic and political role of experience: https://philpapers.org/rec/RUSTPO-112 from which:

'As it is widely known, epistemic injustice was introduced by Fricker (2007) to unveil power relations that have negative consequences on people as epistemic agents. She distinguished in particular two different kinds of epistemic injustice: testimonial and hermeneutical. The first kind occurs when a person (usually in a disadvantaged and oppressed role within the epistemic relation) is damaged as a knower because, as the name suggests, their testimony is overlooked, dismissed or invalidated. The second kind of epistemic injustice occurs when a person is deprived of the epistemic resources to even explain or articulate their experience of distress, or of systemic oppression. In connection to this, the concepts of neurodivergence and neurodiversity come from the political and social arena, and are born explicitly to contrast dominant pathologizing narratives in psychiatry.'

In seeking some 'test' cases to try to model relationally, Hodges' model suggests at least four - without letting the care / knowledge domains wag-the-dog. Giulia's talk was very helpful, ranging across forms of epistemic injustice (addressed by others too), identity, neurodivergence, lived experience, self-, counter- and collective narratives with references. A great resource.

 

Frank Denning, reminded me of an important phenomena, in Using Stebbing’s Directional Analysis to Evaluate ‘Mentalizing’. Talking therapies, or more properly referral to talking therapies often presents several criteria that would-be subjects must 'pass'. An ability to mentalize, can represent one. This is understanable, for effectiveness, efficiency, efficacy ... it is to be found in the manual. But, in terms of power relations, gate keeping in various forms is a literal (virtual) key to service access. Hodges' model is no different (sigh!). At what age can people start to use Hodges' model? What mentalization is involved to cognitively engage in use of Hodges' model? 

 

I struggled to obtain a copy of Stebbing's original work from 1930, but see how closely tied the work is to physics. An Internet Archive copy is poor quality. The search will continue, as I suspect there are links to Bill Ross's text on Deleuzian cosmology. It is marvellous that work from 1930 resonates today. There is: 

Janssen-Lauret, F. (Accepted/In press). Directional Analysis in Susan Stebbing’s Philosophy of Physics. In S. Chapman (Ed.), Susan Stebbing on Logic and Analysis Springer Nature. 

https://pure.manchester.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/338653274/Directional_Analysis_in_Susan_Stebbing_s_Philosophy_of_Physics_Final_.pdf

Gloria Ayob - Flourishing as mental health - was encouraging. 'TASK 1:EQUATION' a slide was titled, including emotional disorder is meta-evaluative; there are negative and positive poles, plus isomorphism between unpleasantness-pleasantness and disorder-health. I think my stomach was protesting I should have paid more attention. There is a blog post by Gloria: https://blog.oup.com/2024/12/the-concept-of-emotional-disorder/

After lunch Richard Hassall - Hermeneutical Injustice and Damaged Intellectual Self-Trust in Psychiatric Service Users, a reminder of the time and effort that needs to be put into public and patient involvement and engagement in mental health service (when this is desired). References included J.L. Austin and J.S. Bruner. A paper:

Hassall R. Sense-making and hermeneutical injustice following a psychiatric diagnosis. J Eval Clin Pract. 2024 Aug;30(5):848-854. doi: 10.1111/jep.13971. Epub 2024 Feb 20. PMID: 38375925.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jep.13971 

Scoping reviews are more common it seems: Lara Calabrese - Exploring epistemic injustice in dementia care: a scoping review and a qualitative study, plus paper [with QR code on the slide]:

Calabrese L, Brigiano M, Quartarone M, Chirico I, Trolese S, Lambiase F, Forte L, Annini A, Bortolotti L, Chattat R. I'm still here and my opinion matters: a scoping review on the experience of epistemic injustice among people living with dementia. Curr Psychol. 2025 Dec 17;45(1):s12144-025-08519-y. doi: 10.1007/s12144-025-08519-y. PMID: 41445984; PMCID: PMC7618523.

 

The paper's title here brought to mind the radio programme "Does He Take Sugar?" Questions followed regards the studies methods. Since leaving I wondered if there has been an evaluation of Dementia Friendly Communities? Are there dots to usefully joined there?

 

The final talk was delivered (with gusto - pepped me up anyway) by Jacob Barlow - Epistemic borders: experts, communities, communication. Jacob's interest in pragmatism was apparent. I look forward to reading future work, and note Liverpool 2025: ‘Problems with Pragmatism in the Philosophy of Psychiatry’.

All in all, a stimulating and enjoyable event.

Thoughts re. 2026 Lancaster Philosophy of Psychiatry Work in Progress Workshop

After posting on the 19th February about the 2026 Lancaster Philosophy of Psychiatry Work in Progress Workshop last Thursday, 1100 through to 1530 on Friday - was well worth attending. I am also grateful for the opportunity to present Hodges' model, share current challenges and questions. Running through the programme what helped here:

While seemingly open in title the first presentation with Hane Maung, was (as with all) specific, but related to aspects of psychiatry and philosophy applicable here; classification, what is a 'disease'?, concepts, Millikan also appears in a reference: https://philpapers.org/go.pl?aid=MAUTDO-6.

As 2nd speaker, there were several questions after my presentation. Fourteen slides went to time: 20 minutes with 10 for Q&A. I'm not the best judge, but I believe I answered them. As my 'subject' is always the same in Hodges' model, I do make an effort to try (at least) to say something new. Listening, I soon realised this is an established Lancaster-grounded group, and welcoming too. If there is ever another opportunity, something new would definitely have to follow.

I can see scope for this in Matthew Williams's - The failure of the harm-minimisation argument for BID Surgery and the necessity of therapeutic justification. 'BIDS' is 'Body integrity dysphoria surgery' a challenging and ethics-bound situation, that while still rare, has made the news for (as ever) the wrong reasons. The relations to be considered cross all the domains and dimensions of health, care and more.

It is possible to become complacent regards our conceptual currency. Without taking care, we grow to take them for granted. I'm grateful to Clive Duddy for a refresh were autonomy is concerned.

'Difference' is a recurring trope in healthcare, informatics and other fields. George Turner's 'difference denied' and subsequent discussions was extra insightful therefore, addressing ongoing (legacy?) issues for service users, carers, patient and public involvement and engagement (PIE).

Presenting, 'Different ways of medical knowing in Walzer's different spheres of justice?', Dieneke Hubbeling drew my attention to Walzer's book: Spheres Of Justice: A Defense Of Pluralism And Equality. In addition capacity and capacities (to achieve an outcome), plus difference (again), especially when it comes to knowledge and knowing. I remember thinking about rather than putting the person at the centre of Hodges' model, place 'equality' and reflect upon that.

I note that we overlap with a journal too, and another topic - overtreatment - that was something of an elephant in the room (perhaps?): a further theme to follow - https://openaccess.sgul.ac.uk/id/eprint/113806/1/jep.13632.pdf

Ali Walker's Forget Fictionalism: Psychiatric Disorders are Quasi-Real,with a topological - cartographic themed slide perked me up later afternoon. The subject of Borderline Personality Disorder also reminded me of the extent of change in adult community mental health services, in practice through 1985-1995 and that encountered in 2019. Much to digest here. A 3 minute video of Ali's thesis BPD Disorder - Trauma is available from last year: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tMSyt71hvs

I will review/add more details here, or a new post.

2026 Lancaster Philosophy of Psychiatry Work in Progress Workshop

I am looking forward to, and preparing for this event next week:

====================================================

Thursday 26 February 2026, 11:00am to Friday 27 February 2026, 3:30pm

Venue: Storey Lecture Theatre, Lancaster , LA1 1TH

Open to: Postgraduates, Staff

Event Details:
 
Sponsored by the British Society for the Philosophy of Science.
This workshop provides an informal forum where PhD students, and more experienced researchers, can present and discuss short works in progress. All paper slots are taken for 2026. 
Please email r.v.cooper AT lancaster.ac.uk if you'd like to attend.
THURSDAY 26th  FEB

10.45-11 Welcome
11-11.30 Hane Maung - Philosophy in Healthcare Practice: A Case Study.
11.30-12 Peter Jones - Hodges' model: A work-ALWAYS-in-progress and this is why...
12-12.30 Matthew Williams - The failure of the harm-minimisation argument for BID Surgery and the necessity of therapeutic justification
12.30-1 Clive Duddy – Autonomy in mental health care
1-2 LUNCH
2-2.30 George Turner - Difference denied.
2.30-3 Dieneke Hubbeling - Different ways of medical knowing in Walzer's different spheres of justice?
3-3.30 Ali Walker - Forget Fictionalism: Psychiatric Disorders are Quasi-Real
3.30-4 Ewa Grzeszczak - Philosophy of psychiatry and the methodology of social ontology.
4-4.30 Break
4.30-5 Alessandra Civani - What kind of concept is ‘incongruence’?
5-5.30 Anna Golova - Self-illness ambiguity without a self-illness distinction.
5.30-6 Break
6-7 Prof Miriam Solomon – Royal Institute of Philosophy talk ‘Stigma as an actant in the history of psychiatry’

FRIDAY 27th Feb

11-11.30 Sam Fellowes - Modelling psychiatric diagnoses when self-diagnosing - how does this work?
11.30-12 Giulia Russo - Epistemic and political role of experience
12-12.30 Frank Denning - Using Stebbing’s Directional Analysis to Evaluate ‘Mentalizing’.
12.30-1 Gloria Ayob - Flourishing as mental health
1-2 LUNCH
2-2.30 Richard Hassall - Hermeneutical Injustice and Damaged Intellectual Self-Trust in Psychiatric Service Users.
2.30-3 Lara Calabrese - Exploring epistemic injustice in dementia care: a scoping review and a qualitative study
3-3.30 Jacob Barlow - Epistemic borders: experts, communities, communication

<>

Person-centredness, Holistic approach, Prevention c/o Hippocrates

“It is more important to know what sort of person 
has a disease than to know 
what sort of disease a person has.” Hippocrates

 

Individual

|

      INTERPERSONAL    :     SCIENCES               

HUMANISTIC  --------------------------------------  MECHANISTIC      

 SOCIOLOGY  :    POLITICAL 

|

Group

To say that Hippocrates was ahead of his time is a gross understatement. Hippocrates recognised the importance of person-centredness and prevention, and contributed to the emergence of several medical specialties. (Kostakopoulos, et al., 2024).

'Holistic Approach One of the most significant innovations of the founding father of clinical medicine was the holistic approach for the diagnosis and treatment of disease. This approach is based on the assumption that the human body is a sum of many parts that function in harmony and that if one part is ill, the balance will be affected and the whole person will suffer. Hippocrates considered that patients consisted of body, mind, and spirit and this is also the modern physicians' approach when treating a disease [2].'

Health and social care are still playing catch-up. The vitriolic 'debate' on X over psychiatry - anti-psychiatry and DSM-X. The total inability now to shift to preventive healthcare due to the perverse, entrenched economic incentives, which facilitate increasing inequity, inequality. Whichever Government does switch to preventive medicine, perhaps other governments had better take note?  I think Hippocrates would have approved - wholeheartedly - of Hodges' model.

'Prevention of Disease Another important aspect of Hippocrates' works that is widely applied in 21st-century medicine is the prevention of disease. The phrase “Κάλλιον το προλαμβάνειν του θεραπεύειν,” which means that it is better to prevent than to treat a disease, was the cornerstone of his teachings and is based on the observation that healthy Mediterranean diet and daily moderate physical activity can prevent disease. The ancient Greeks believed that all maladies started from the gut and that walking was the best available medicine [2].'

Kostakopoulos NA, Bellos TC, Katsimperis S, Tzelves L. Hippocrates of Kos (460-377 BC): The Founder and Pioneer of Clinical Medicine. Cureus. 2024 Oct 1;16(10):e70602. doi: 10.7759/cureus.70602. PMID: 39483540; PMCID: PMC11526839.

Gabbard, G. The Person with the Diagnosis. Psychiatric News. 49;6. 19 March 2014. 
https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.pn.2014.3b19.

Brigić, A., Hasanović, M., Pajević, I., Aljukić, N., Hamidović, J., & Jakovljević, M. (2021). Principles of Hippocratic Medicine from the Perspective of Modern Medicine. Psychiatria Danubina, 33(Suppl 4), 1210–1217. 

See also: 'medicine' : 'person' : 'diagnosis' : 'prevention'

Auction: Twenty-two photographs of psychiatric patients at the Surrey County Lunatic Asylum [1850s]

DIAMOND, Dr Hugh Welch (1808–1886)

Twenty-two photographs of psychiatric patients at the Surrey County Lunatic Asylum [1850s]

Estimate - GBP 100,000 – GBP 200,000

Christie's London - December 10th 2025

https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-6564110?ldp_breadcrumb=back

Asylum patient by Hugh Welch Diamond, c1850-58
Hugh Welch Diamond (English, 1808-1886)
Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

'The women Iook out at us across 170 years of history with a variety of expressions - bold and shy, serene and distressed. Yet all of them were regarded at the time as "lunatics". These faces were the  subjects of a pioneering project by the 19th-century psychiatrist Hugh Welch Diamond, superintendent of the female division of an asylum in London and the world's first photographer to take pictures of patients for the purpose of diagnosis and therapy.

Twenty-two of Diamond's asylum portraits - the largest surviving group - will be put up for auction on December 10 at Christie's in London, as part of a sale of books, manuscripts and photographs from the library of The Royal Society of Medicine. If they achieve their estimated prices, RSM, a membership charity, will raise more than £2mn to invest in physical and digital infrastructure.' ...

'Diamond was working at a time when society's views of people suffering from mental illness were changing. The earlier practice of shutting patients away in secure "madhouses" was giving way to more humane treatment. Diamond seems to have believed that photography would help doctors both to diagnose and to treat patients. His diagnoses were based partly on the idea, popular in Victorian medical circles, that an individual's physiognomy - their physical features, particularly the face - could reveal their mental state.

"He wanted to make people better and put them back into the world," says Sharrona Pearl, a medical historian at Texas Christian University who has studied Diamond's work. "He also enjoyed experimenting and liked the idea of bridging his expertise in medicine and photography.' p.32.

individual

|

INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES

humanistic -------------------------------------------  mechanistic

SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL

|

group-population

Mental Illness PERSON - SUBJECT Patient's names not recorded Portrait - Consent?	Diagnosis and Treatment person - DATA - SUBJECT Photography as records Eagerness to classify - label
Social history Change in social attitudes Stigma and fear of mental illness Current relatives?	Confidentiality Institutional change Power imbalance Shift from 'custodial' to health care

My source:
Clive Cookson, Mind Hunter, FT Magazine, November 15, 2025, 1151, pp.30-34.

I have noticed Prof. Brendan Kelly is a regular FT respondent, as with this article:

'These photographs were likely to have been taken without meaningful consent and in the context of power imbalance. Yet publication can reclaim their individuality, address historical injustice and underscore our common humanity. Compassion, respect and humility should guide decisions. 

 Proceeds should support medical, educational, or justice-oriented programmes. Most importantly honouring forgotten patients of the past demands better care for people with mental illness today, who often languish, neglected, in homeless hostels or prisons. We can do better.'

Brendan Kelly Professor of Psychiatry, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland.

Letters, FT Weekend. 22-23 November 2025, p.10.

See also: 'asylum' : 'photos'

Book: Love's Labour by Stephen Grosz

They had loved and hated,

but they were still a couple, 

still doing love's labour ...

Luminous and necessary stories from the psychoanalyst's consulting room; on desire, heartbreak and learning how to love.

When it comes to love why do we find things so difficult? Drawing on over forty years of candid and surprising conversations with his patients, Stephen Grosz asks, what gets in the way of our falling in love? And what must we do to stay there? Penguin UK.

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'Ravi, a maths lecturer, is tormented by his wife Sonal's supposed infidelity, but won't look at the CCTV - even though that might reveal her to be innocent. This chapter has a sting in its tail when 19 years later Grosz is contacted by Sonal. She is dying of cancer and Ravi is cruelly neglecting her. Grosz feels that he missed a vital clue all those years ago, concerning Ravi's ingratitude and envy.

This moment of "failure" on Grosz's part forms an aspect of this small book's power. It shows that the psychoanalyst is not a machine, and the process is fallible. But it is also a testament to human complexity. When he hasn't understood the patient sufficiently, Grosz brings the case to his supervisor, and we, the reader, are witness to their exchange.' Life&Arts, FTWeekend.

Individual

|

      INTERPERSONAL    :     SCIENCES               

HUMANISTIC =========================  MECHANISTIC      

 SOCIOLOGY  :    POLITICAL 

|

Group

love's labour

My source: Kathy O'Shaughnessy. The hard work of seeing ourselves. Books, Life&Arts, FTWeekend, 27-28 September 2025, p.11.

Stephen Grosz, Love's Labour

Iamge: https://cdn2.penguin.com.au/covers/400/9780701188979.jpg