Skip to main content
MMedVellum
MCQsExamsAtlas
DashboardPricing
MMedVellum

The exam atlas that feels like a flagship product — evidence-graded topics and exam tools for MBBS and fellowship preparation. Built to scale to fifty specialties. Educational content only — not medical advice.

llms.txt·psychiatry LLM catalog · sitemap

Atlas

  • Specialty atlas
  • MBBS / Core medicine
  • Dermatology
  • ICU Fellowship (CICM)
  • Anaesthesia
  • Emergency Medicine
  • Psychiatry Fellowship

Study & account

  • MCQ practice
  • Practice alias
  • Exam tools
  • Dashboard
  • Pricing
  • Sign in

© 2026 MedVellum. For education only — not a substitute for clinical judgement.

Clinical Atlas Prestige · Evidence-first

Psych Vivasfoundations — philosophy of mind

Psych Vivas · foundations — philosophy of mind

Philosophy of mind and psychiatry — structured clinical viva

Fellowship viva on philosophy of mind applied to formulation, free will, BPS, phenomenology, and capacity.

clinical
On this page & tools

Target exams

FRANZCPMRCPsychABPNMD-DNB

Target exams

FRANZCPMRCPsychABPNMD-DNB
Prompt
You are examining a psychiatry registrar. Define philosophy of mind versus philosophy of psychiatry. Map dualism, physicalism, and functionalism. Explain Kendler's multilevel explanatory pluralism and dappled causes. Defend and critique the biopsychosocial model (Engel vs Ghaemi). Outline phenomenological form-first practice (Andreasen; Sass/Parnas self). Discuss free will neuroscience claims in forensic talk (Pierre) and Appelbaum capacity abilities. Close with multi-board exam pearls.

Interpretation

Reveal interpretation

Scope. Philosophy of mind: nature of mental states, consciousness, free will, mind-body relation. Philosophy of psychiatry: how those answers shape disorder concepts, explanation, values, and care.[3]

Map. Dualism (distinct substances/properties), physicalism (mental depends on physical), functionalism (role not stuff). Clinical: reject forced 'chemical or weak' dualist folk choice.[3]

Kendler. Explicit philosophical structure; multilevel explanations; pluralism with patchy reduction; dappled causes — not single-cause or pure hardware/software myths.[3]

BPS. Engel: multilevel scientific clinical method. Ghaemi: often empty eclecticism. Rescue with prioritised hypotheses.[1][2]

Phenomenology. Form of experience before criteria-only practice (Andreasen). Self-disorder/ipseity framework deepens psychosis description when relevant (Sass/Parnas).[4][5]

Free will and capacity. Neuroscience of free will often overclaimed; do not abolish responsibility with a scan slogan (Pierre). Capacity: understand, appreciate, reason, choose — decision-specific (Appelbaum).[6][7]

Pearls. Form then mechanism then metaphysics; pluralism not relativism; never invent legal section numbers.[3][5]

Key points

Pluralism

Multiple legitimate levels; each claim needs its own evidence standard.[3]

BPS trap

Multilevel method yes; empty triad no.[1][2]

Responsibility

Causal explanation of action does not automatically erase clinical or legal responsibility talk.[6]

References

  1. [1]Engel GL The need for a new medical model: a challenge for biomedicine Science, 1977.PMID 847460
  2. [2]Ghaemi SN The rise and fall of the biopsychosocial model Br J Psychiatry, 2009.PMID 19567886
  3. [3]Kendler KS Toward a philosophical structure for psychiatry Am J Psychiatry, 2005.PMID 15741457
  4. [4]Sass LA, Parnas J Schizophrenia, consciousness, and the self Schizophr Bull, 2003.PMID 14609238
  5. [5]Andreasen NC DSM and the death of phenomenology in america: an example of unintended consequences Schizophr Bull, 2007.PMID 17158191
  6. [6]Pierre JM The neuroscience of free will: implications for psychiatry J Psychiatr Pract, 2014.PMID 24330830
  7. [7]Appelbaum PS Clinical practice. Assessment of patients' competence to consent to treatment N Engl J Med, 2007.PMID 17978292