Before the 1980s, meeting a psychiatric diagnosis was rare—and socially stigmatising. Today, it is estimated that over 80% of people meet the criteria for a psychiatric diagnosis. Have we all gone mad? Or has the meaning of illness changed? Or is it society that is sick? What is our psychiatric present, and why can we speak about "normal sickness"? Find out in our new article just published in Les Temps Qui Restent ('The time that remains'; successor publication to Les Temps

We are happy to share with you the newly published special issue containing all the papers from our online seminar series -- revised in light of the wonderful comments and questions participants contributed. It is freely available as open access publication here -- Vol. 9, Number 2 (July, 2025): https://www.bjct.de/BJCT_text_archive.html

We are excited to announce that two new papers from CICSI research have been published, exploring new forms of self and psychic suffering...

CICSI and the Critical Theory Colloquium at the University of Essex invite you to an online seminar series: "Dialectic of Enlightenment" at 80 - New Readings . Image: Gaitis Yannis, Siren - Odysseus . Courtesy of National Gallery, Atthens. 2024 sees the 80th anniversary of the publication of Adorno and Horkheimer’s Dialectic of Enlightenment . Written in the darkest years of the Second World War, this book remains the object of persistent public interest and scholarly debat

CICSI is presenting as part of the ESRC Centre for Society and Mental Health Seminar Series Abstract: Ever since the paradigm shift in...

10-12 July 2024, Wivenhoe House Hotel, Colchester explored the question: What is the role of the social context in distress and how to address it? Organised by the Centre for Investigating Contemporary Social Ills (CICSI) together with the School of Philosophical, Historical and Interdisciplinary Studies at the University of Essex (PHAIS) present, it was taught by leading experts and practitioners from four countries, including Professor Richard Wilkinson, co-author of The Sp

"Normality proper to this time is sickness: re-actualising the early Institute’s interdisciplinary research programme in relation to the...

Part of the conference ‘Political Theory in Times of Uncertainty ’Bremen, Germany September 27-29, 2023. ​ ​Prof. Fabian Freyenhagen...

Wednesday 6th September 2023 Chaired by Dr Martin Zinkler & Prof. Frank Röhricht

The 1st CICSI Residential Summer School took place from 6-7th July 2023. In the beautiful setting of the Wivenhoe House Hotel we explored prescription epidemic in industrialised countries. Is it becoming the statistical norm to be diagnosed with at least one “mental disorder” in our lifetime? When it has become normal that so many are in mental distress, has our normality become sick? Are there alternative ways forward except for medicalising more and more people? ​ There is