New Books in Philosophy Şerife Tekin, "Reclaiming the Self in Psychiatry: Centering Personal Narrative for a Humanist Science" (Routledge, 2025)
Jun 10, 2025
Şerife Tekin, an Associate Professor of Philosophy at SUNY Upstate Medical University, explores the intersection of personal narratives and psychiatry. She challenges the traditional disorder-label approach, advocating for the Multitudinous Self (MuSe) model, which puts patients' self-stories at the forefront of treatment. Tekin discusses the complexities of identity, especially regarding schizophrenia, and critiques the limitations of current diagnostic frameworks. She also delves into social media's impact on self-perception and the role of AI in modern psychiatric practices.
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Scientific Legitimacy Hid The Self
- Psychiatry's push for scientific legitimacy led to a symptom-and-label focus that sidelines the rich, self-related aspects of mental disorder.
- Reintegrating self-related data (narrative, experiential, social) could reveal clinically crucial distinctions hidden by DSM-style criteria.
Five-Facet MuSe Dashboard
- The Multitudinous Self (MuSe) frames the self via five complementary facets: physical, social, experiential, narrative, and conceptual.
- Combining these lenses creates a diagnostic 'dashboard' that integrates first-person reports with cognitive and social science findings.
Immigrant Depression Example
- Tekin compares DSM hyponarratives to immigrant patients' thick self-stories to show what diagnostic lists miss.
- The immigrant's cultural and adaptation struggles reveal clinical details absent from checklist-based descriptions.
