Epistemic injustice was conceptualized by Fricker as a form of social injustice, which occurs when people’s authority ‘as a knower’ is ignored, dismissed, or marginalized. It is attracting increasing interest in the mental health field because of the asymmetries of power between people using mental health services and mental health professionals.
People experiencing mental health distress are particularly vulnerable to epistemic injustice as a consequence of deeply embedded social stigma, negative stereotyping, and assumed irrationality. This is amplified by other forms of stereotyping or structural discrimination, including racism, misogyny, and homophobia. Consequently, individual testimonies may be discounted as both irrational and unreliable. Epistemic injustice also operates systemically reflecting social and demographic characteristics, such a race, gender, sexuality or disability, or age.
The goal of this Research Topic is to examine how epistemic injustices occur for people experiencing mental distress and those diagnosed with a mental illness, how they can be addressed and advanced towards achieving epistemic justice. We seek to draw out oppressive practices of silencing, exclusion, and distortion and advocate for lived experience as the voice of authority. This will include the different forms of epistemic injustice, including testimonial and hermeneutic injustices, and advances in addressing them. These will be considered from different perspectives with a balance of theoretical perspectives, Original Research, and invited Commentaries from people with lived experience. The selected papers will include a focus on epistemic injustice in mental health and race, gender, and other forms of structural discrimination. They will also reflect different country contexts, as far as possible, and different service contexts including compulsory detention under mental health legislation.
The aim of this Research Topic is to highlight research on epistemic injustice and mental health and recent developments in the application of the concept to understanding mental illness. Topics include:
• How epistemic injustices occur in mental health theory, practice, or research to marginalize service user experience and knowledge, including the structural aspects relating to ethnicity, gender, sexuality, disability, or age.
• Forms of epistemic violence in different contexts.
• Epistemic injustices from different disciplinary perspectives including critical race theory, feminism, disability studies, mad studies, or queer studies.
• The impact of epistemic injustices on service users and/or mental health professionals.
• Developments in mental health theory to center service user knowledge, notably Mad Studies.
• Practical measures to address epistemic injustice in mental health, including restorative practices and community-driven approaches.
We welcome manuscripts with a conceptual focus and papers reporting findings from empirical research in different country, policy, and service contexts.
Epistemic injustice was conceptualized by Fricker as a form of social injustice, which occurs when people’s authority ‘as a knower’ is ignored, dismissed, or marginalized. It is attracting increasing interest in the mental health field because of the asymmetries of power between people using mental health services and mental health professionals.
People experiencing mental health distress are particularly vulnerable to epistemic injustice as a consequence of deeply embedded social stigma, negative stereotyping, and assumed irrationality. This is amplified by other forms of stereotyping or structural discrimination, including racism, misogyny, and homophobia. Consequently, individual testimonies may be discounted as both irrational and unreliable. Epistemic injustice also operates systemically reflecting social and demographic characteristics, such a race, gender, sexuality or disability, or age.
The goal of this Research Topic is to examine how epistemic injustices occur for people experiencing mental distress and those diagnosed with a mental illness, how they can be addressed and advanced towards achieving epistemic justice. We seek to draw out oppressive practices of silencing, exclusion, and distortion and advocate for lived experience as the voice of authority. This will include the different forms of epistemic injustice, including testimonial and hermeneutic injustices, and advances in addressing them. These will be considered from different perspectives with a balance of theoretical perspectives, Original Research, and invited Commentaries from people with lived experience. The selected papers will include a focus on epistemic injustice in mental health and race, gender, and other forms of structural discrimination. They will also reflect different country contexts, as far as possible, and different service contexts including compulsory detention under mental health legislation.
The aim of this Research Topic is to highlight research on epistemic injustice and mental health and recent developments in the application of the concept to understanding mental illness. Topics include:
• How epistemic injustices occur in mental health theory, practice, or research to marginalize service user experience and knowledge, including the structural aspects relating to ethnicity, gender, sexuality, disability, or age.
• Forms of epistemic violence in different contexts.
• Epistemic injustices from different disciplinary perspectives including critical race theory, feminism, disability studies, mad studies, or queer studies.
• The impact of epistemic injustices on service users and/or mental health professionals.
• Developments in mental health theory to center service user knowledge, notably Mad Studies.
• Practical measures to address epistemic injustice in mental health, including restorative practices and community-driven approaches.
We welcome manuscripts with a conceptual focus and papers reporting findings from empirical research in different country, policy, and service contexts.
