Contested Credibility (University of Birmingham)

 The case study consists in a series of recorded interviews, analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, with young people (aged 18-25) who had experiences of psychosis. We want to investigate whether young people have been taken less seriously in conversations around their mental health as a result of their unusual experiences, and what impact this has on their sense of identity and belongingness. We aim to gain a better understanding of the effects of epistemic injustice and develop recommendations for improving conversations around mental health with young people.

Team

• Data collection and analysis: Dr Jodie Russell (University of Birmingham). 
• EPIC Project investigator: Professor Matthew Broome (University of Birmingham). 
• EPIC Project partners: Professor Michael Larkin, School of Psychology, Aston University; Professor Rose McCabe, School of Health and Medical Science, City St George's University, London.

Recruitment

 Young people (aged 18-25) recruited from services in the Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health Foundation Trust.

Relevant publications

• Larkin, M. et al. (2025). Being Understood: Epistemic Injustice Towards Young People Seeking Support for Their Mental Health. In: Bortolotti, L. (eds) Epistemic Justice in Mental Healthcare. Palgrave Macmillan.
• Bortolotti, L., et al. (2025). Challenging Stereotypes About Young People Who Hear Voices. In: Bortolotti, L. (eds) Epistemic Justice in Mental Healthcare. Palgrave Macmillan.
• Bortolotti, L. (2025). Agential Epistemic Injustice in Clinical Interactions Is Bad for Medicine. Philosophy of Medicine 6 (1), 1-19.  
•  Bergen, C., Bortolotti, L., Temple, R. K., Fadashe, C., Lee, C., Lim, M., & McCabe, R. (2023). Implying implausibility and undermining versus accepting peoples’ experiences of suicidal ideation and self-harm in Emergency Department psychosocial assessments. Frontiers in psychiatry, 14, 1197512. 

Presentations

• Jodie Russell, “Intersectional invisibility and its impact on belongingness and being understood” as part of the MAP panel on healthcare injustices, Understanding Value XIII, hybrid, University of Sheffield, July 14th-16th.
• Jodie Russell, “Sartre and Psychosis: doing intersectional, phenomenological interviews with people with experience of mental disorder”, BioXPhi Summit, University of Basel, Switzerland, June 26th-27th 2025.
• Jodie Russell, “A phenomenological account of Intersectional invisibility in mental illness”, PhenoLab, Italy, 9-13th June, 2025.
• Matthew Broome and Jodie Russell, Epistemic Injustice in Mental Healthcare symposium, International Network for Philosophy and Psychiatry Conference, University of Leipzig, Germany, 29th-31st May 2025.
• Michael Larkin and Rose McCabe, Philosophy and Mental Health, Philosophy Matters webinar, 26th March 2025.