Why we’re all weird, but nobody is ill

Blog post – Chloe

Prof Peter Kinderman , someone I have had the pleasure of meeting, is a kind and empathetic professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of Liverpool. His work seeks to address the real causes of psychological distress, placing the causes more accurately outside of a persons head and more firmly in social contexts.

This is particularly important when we consider the psychological distress many Autistic and neurodivergent people experience, where our neurodevelopmental difference is blamed for the psychological distress we experience, instead of placing the onus on the environment that led to the distress.

“Dr Peter Kinderman argues that mental emotional distress is not a sign of illness but a symptom of social causes and pressure. Depression, anxiety and even schizophrenia can be serious and debilitating experiences for people; but Dr Kinderman says the causes of these symptoms will not be found inside the brain but rather outside the person. Unemployment, bullying, child abuse, these are often the causes of mental distress – and the treatment he prescribes is for all of us to take greater social responsibility to address the situation…”

This quote was originally from a University of Liverpool podcast with Peter Kinderman, Episode 7: Is it really mental ‘illness’?, which sadly is no longer available, but you can listen to Peter here: https://getpodcast.com/podcast/the-wrong-kind-of-mad/episode-8-peter-kinderman-on-understanding-distress-without-pathologis_1c6a4ba21b