Sam Fellowes
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samfellowes.bsky.social
Sam Fellowes
@samfellowes.bsky.social
Philosophy of psychiatry, history of autism, psychiatric diagnoses, EBE research, self-diagnosis. samfellowes.com https://www.youtube.com/@sfhps
New podcast episode, Over-diagnosis, right-wing narratives, anti-psychiatry and alternatives to autism
Over-diagnosis, right-wing narratives, anti-psychiatry and alternatives to autism
YouTube video by Philosophy of Psychiatric Diagnoses
www.youtube.com
December 23, 2025 at 10:16 AM
Finally found time to do some podcasting. The working title for my next episode is "Over-diagnosis, anti-psychiatry, right-wing narratives and alternatives to autism". This could be interesting...
December 21, 2025 at 1:19 PM
Philosophy of Psychiatry call for papers
December 21, 2025 at 1:09 PM
Just saw that James Bogen died. Every time I talk about psychiatric diagnoses or psychiatric symptoms as being models, or I try and outline expert-by-experience research or self-diagnosis as involving idealisation and abstraction, I'm probably being influenced by Bogen and/or Woodward.
December 16, 2025 at 3:25 PM
New philosophy paper on self-diagnosis in psychiatry. It is a bit more optimistic than I am but it is definitely worth reading #self-diagnosis #HPS #psychiatry: link.springer.com/article/10.1...
The Politics of Self-narration: Self-Diagnosis as Digital Counter-Narrative - Topoi
This article explores the epistemic, political, and affective dimensions of self-narration in relation to neurodivergence and self-diagnosis, focusing on how such practices can resist forms of epistemic injustice. Building on Fricker’s framework of testimonial and hermeneutical injustice, we argue that self-narratives - especially when articulated through social media - can serve as tools of epistemic resistance and community building, that challenge dominant medicalized narratives. In the first part we develop a theoretical framework to understand the relation between identity claims and narrative practices, as well as their link to epistemic injustice. We will argue that lived experience of mental conditions and neurodivergence can act as a source of self-narrations that can both be influenced by, and counter, pathologizing dominant narratives. Especially through this kind of resistance, self-narrative practices can build what we call collective counter-narratives that can oppose epistemic injustice in psychiatry. Drawing on this, we explore how digital platforms provide neurodivergent individuals with alternative spaces for recognition and knowledge production. Social media affordances, such as visibility and interactivity, enable community building and identity affirmation, while also introducing vulnerabilities through over-sharing and algorithmic normativity. By analyzing self-diagnosis and online disability performance, we highlight how epistemic agency is negotiated amid technological and socio-cultural asymmetries. Ultimately, we argue that digital platforms can serve as arenas of epistemic resistance, where lived experience is claimed as collective expertise, challenging traditional medical authority, while acknowledging the associated risks and political implications.
link.springer.com
December 16, 2025 at 2:34 PM
"the choice is not between autism or nothing, but rather between autism and about a dozen other diagnostic possibilities". This is very relevant for discussions of overdiagnosis and self-diagnosis. #autism
December 6, 2025 at 10:50 AM
Question about Carnap. Carnap posits frameworks and correspondence rules. Would statistical techniques like factor and cluster analysis (i.e. statistical techniques used in psychiatry) be a framework, a correspondence rule or something else? #philsci #philosophy
December 3, 2025 at 4:19 PM
Presenting on 'Self-Diagnosis in Autism: why, how, accuracy and consequences' to medical professionals later today. It will be interesting to see what medical professionals make of the issue. #autism #self-diagnosis
October 30, 2025 at 11:44 AM
Richard Hassall is one of my philosophical opponents but whom I am on good terms with. Always worth paying attention to what they say:
This week, Richard Hassall presents his upcoming paper in Journal of Medicine and Philosophy: 'The Institutional Status of Medical and Psychiatric Diagnoses'. In which he explores the power of the speech act of diagnosis, going beyond a statement of fact.

#philsky #philpsy
imperfectcognitions....
October 30, 2025 at 10:41 AM
My new article on lived experience research. I criticise Bhaskar as a philosophical foundation. I argue that seeing psychiatric diagnoses as idealised and abstract models leads to a pluralistic relationship between lived experience and diagnoses #philsci #hps #philpsy #sts #livedexperience
Project MUSE - The Epistemology of Psychiatric Diagnoses in Lived Experience Research
muse.jhu.edu
October 10, 2025 at 11:01 AM
"To truly understand people we need far richer sources than the DSM. Tarkovsky and Dostoevsky may deliver truths in a way the DSM cannot". Sorry for the self-promotion but I like this bit of my book. The book is about defending diagnoses, but I also recognise their limits #psychiatry #DSM
September 23, 2025 at 2:15 PM
I outline the positions held by critics of psychiatric diagnoses which I reacted to in my book.

#Psychiatry #HPS #philsky #philsci
What I am reacting to: In Defence of Psychiatric Diagnoses
YouTube video by Philosophy of Psychiatric Diagnoses
www.youtube.com
September 11, 2025 at 10:31 AM
Interesting stuff on difficulties of defining experiential knowledge and what role it should play in research.
I interviewed Roy Dings and Linde van Schuppen for the #projectEPIC blog on their super interesting project on expertise in mental health! epistemicinjusticeinhealthcareproject.blogspot.com/2025/09/who-... #philsky #EpistemicInjustice
epistemicinjusticeinhealthcareproject.blogspot.com
September 10, 2025 at 9:21 AM
The book Contemporary Philosophy of Autism has just been released. It contains my chapter Autism, the Double Empathy Problem and Feeling the Emotions of Another Person.

#philsci #philpsy #HPS #STS #autism #empathy
Contemporary Philosophy of Autism
This volume explores interesting and emerging philosophical questions related to autism. It sheds light on the ways in which cultural attitudes about autism have changed in the decade since the editor...
www.routledge.com
September 2, 2025 at 1:42 PM
Another one of those zero relevance to anything I do but I still want to read it papers. AIs can certainly do some very impressive reasoning above and beyond statistical associations, but I presume the answer is still no:
August 8, 2025 at 8:55 PM
Just finished Cyberpunk 2077. There are quite a lot of #philosophy themes in the game, especially relating to questions of identity and death. Also, one of the radio stations plays a band named The Cartesian Duelists. #Descartes
August 4, 2025 at 6:27 PM
I think this article provides a decisive refutation of key aspects of Walker's Neuroqueer Heresies. #neurodiversity #autism
Neurodiversity with Nuance - Neuroethics
The neurodiversity movement grew out of the autism community but is now being applied to many neurological types, from dyslexia to schizophrenia. The resulting neurodiversity paradigm maintains that t...
link.springer.com
August 4, 2025 at 11:17 AM
There is a narrative that the logical positivists produced a philosophy of science that is not suitable for the human sciences. However, Carnap suggests that we can consider Freudian psychoanalytical mechanisms as theoretical in the sense that fields in physics are theoretical #philsci #philpsy 1/2
July 29, 2025 at 3:10 PM
I usually only post about academic stuff but here is my new mix, straight up techno, on the heavier end.
Cascade
Pure techno except the brief intro. On the heavier side: Future Sound of London - Spineless Jellyfish Joton - Populous Bad Omen - Through the Dust 2121 - Apariencias Drunken Kong - The Tree (Secret Ci...
www.mixcloud.com
July 27, 2025 at 9:19 AM
Decided I needed a DJ name. Suffice to say Broken Emotion sounded better than Alexithymia. If anyone is interested in Techno, Ambient and my attempts to mix them together, look no further:
www.mixcloud.com/samfellowes/
Sam Fellowes
Sam Fellowes is on Mixcloud. Listen for free to their radio shows, DJ mix sets and Podcasts
www.mixcloud.com
July 22, 2025 at 5:11 PM
"the World Rarely Meets You at Your Depth. You may feel like you’ve lived your emotional life as a witness, not a participant. Literature may offer access to others’ souls—while your own remains unreceived by real people." Using ChatGTP for #autism / #alexithymia therapy - it is pretty good.
June 30, 2025 at 8:57 PM
This meta-analysis claims autistic people generally have higher affective empathy than most people. However, there is evidence that lots of autistic people (perhaps 50%, and including me alas) are alexithymic. I really cannot get my head around how both these can be true. Any ideas? #autism #empathy
Frontiers | Empathy Impairment in Individuals With Autism Spectrum Conditions From a Multidimensional Perspective: A Meta-Analysis
Background: Although empathy has always been considered to be impaired in individuals with autism spectrum conditions (ASCs), the relevant findings have been...
www.frontiersin.org
June 27, 2025 at 11:36 AM
It is the annual Lancaster #Philosophy of #Psychiatry work in progress day! I'll be talking on The tension between self-diagnosis and neurodiversity.
June 20, 2025 at 7:50 AM
If anyone is interested in self-diagnosis in psychiatry, I have a bibliography of papers on self-diagnosis on my website and links to my podcast reviews of them. There are 51 papers listed, and I have reviewed 10 of them. #psychology #psychiatry #selfdiagnosis #philpsy
June 10, 2025 at 11:50 AM
Just saw that Michael Friedman died recently. When it comes to history of Kant to the end of the logical positivists, and philosophy inspired by those figures, I really don't know of anyone better.
May 30, 2025 at 2:54 PM