The lecture, titled: Not So Abnormal Psychology: A Pragmatic View of Mental Illness will feature Ronald B. Miller, PhD, a professor of psychology at Saint Michael’s College in northern Vermont and the author of Not So Abnormal Psychology: A Pragmatic View of Mental Illness (2015), and Facing Human Suffering: Psychology and Psychotherapy as Moral Engagement (2004).

In his talk, Dr. Miller will challenge the historical perception that mental illnesses are genetically-determined malfunctions in the brain, and that psychotropic medications and cognitive-behavioural interventions are the only scientifically appropriate tools for symptom management. Dr. Miller offers alternative conceptualizations and treatments for psychological problems, including mental illnesses and developmental disorders. He suggests that alternative treatment modes that have too often been denigrated or ignored have long produced successful outcomes. In doing so, Dr. Miller challenges reigning orthodoxies, such as our tendency to pathologize psychological difficulties and to downplay or ignore subjective experiences of human suffering.