Prize Scholar: Anna Golova

Sometimes, a person with a mental illness diagnosis may wonder ‘Is this experience due to my illness or is this just who I am?’. At other times, clinicians might ask ‘Is this an authentic treatment decision we should respect or is it the individual's mental illness talking?’. There may even be concerns that a wish could be a symptom of the illness itself, e.g., when a depressed person seeks medical assistance in dying.

In my DPhil in Philosophy, supervised by Dr Jonathan Pugh and Prof Edward Harcourt, I investigate the relationship between mental illness and the self in such scenarios. How, if at all, can a conceptual distinction between self and mental illness be drawn? And what ethical implications does that have? In addressing these questions, I combine – and hope to contribute to – philosophy of psychiatry, ethics, and issues in clinical practice.

I got interested and began working in this area during the BPhil in Philosophy, for which I was fortunate to receive the Gilbert-Ryle-Prize. I am grateful to Merton College for allowing me to continue my research, by co-funding my DPhil together with the Open-Oxford-Cambridge-AHRC-DTP. It is wonderful being part of Merton and the Uehiro Centre during my DPhil!