Joseph E. Davis is Research Professor of Sociology and Director of the Picturing the Human Project of the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture at the University of Virginia. Professor Davis’ research explores the intersecting questions of self, morality, and cultural change. In studies of medicine, psychiatry, work, AI, aging, social movements, and other fields, he has examined trauma psychology, narratives of suffering, the rise of biological explanations of mental life, medicalization, psychoactive drug use, and our cultural dreams of technological mastery. He is the author or editor of several books, including, most recently, Chemically Imbalanced: Everyday Suffering, Medication, and Our Troubled Quest for Self-Mastery (2020), The Evening of Life: The Challenges of Aging and Dying Well (2020), and To Fix or to Heal: Patient Care, Public Health, and the Limits of Biomedicine. His articles have appeared in many journals, peer-reviewed and popular. He is a former editor of The Hedgehog Review and writes a Psychology Today blog called “Our New Discontents: Reflections on Mental Health and Social Ideals.” Currently, he is at work co-editing a special issue of Culture, Medicine, and Psychiatry on “Being Human in the Age of the Brain: Models of Mind and their Social Effects,” as well as two book projects, “The Troubles of Youth,” and an “Essay on Human Misunderstanding.”
In this episode, Dr. Davis and I discuss the role of medications in mental health from a sociological context, whether groupings such as diagnoses limit us or help us as a society, and how mental health treatment has evolved over the years in the way we understand it.
For more information on Dr. Davis, check out his profile here: https://sociology.as.virginia.edu/people/profile/jed8mwebsite. Make sure to check out his most recent book, Chemically Imbalanced: Everyday Suffering, Medication, and our Troubled Quest for Self-Mastery. Follow me @joshkorac on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube for video clips, podcast previews, and more mental health content! If you are in a mental health crisis, please call 988 or go to your nearest emergency room. If you are from Colorado and are interested in scheduling a session, please reach out at sojourncounselingco.com/josh or josh@sojourncounselingco.com.
*We did hit some technical issues during the episodes, so I apologize for some of the quick transitions!
Takeaways
There is ongoing debate about the biological component of mental disorders and the ability to show neurobiological issues.
The use of medication for brain disorders is often based on the logic of addressing a chemical or neurochemical problem.
Drugs can be useful for short-term relief in acute situations, but understanding the underlying problems and asking why questions is crucial for long-term solutions.
Asking why questions helps in interpreting experiences and finding effective ways to adapt or change the situation.
Chapters
00:00 Introduction and Background
03:00 The Concept of the Person in Sociology
06:35 The Impact of Diagnosis and Labels
11:46 The Limitations of Diagnosis and Categorization
17:15 The Influence of Drug Ads and Societal Expectations
23:12 The Narrow Definition of Normalcy
30:57 The Paradox of Freedom and Failure
39:10 The Illusion of Tolerance and Homogenization
45:48 The Need for Explanations and the Role of Choice
49:43 Biological Component of Mental Disorders
52:05 Logic of Medication for Brain Disorders
53:08 Use of Drugs for Acute Situations
54:07 Importance of Asking Why Questions
