This chapter examines the philosophy of mind in relation to psychosis. It begins by re-appraising the work of Karl Jaspers. Jaspers has been taken as an apologist for biological psychiatry. However, this is ironic, as Jaspers was, as an existential philosopher, interested in the personal experience of psychosis. His account of the phenomenology of psychosis is reappraised. The philosophical...
In this chapter the dimensional model of psychosis is examined. Evidence for the existence of a continuum is evaluated. Evidence for psychotic symptoms in the general population is examined. Psychotic episodes and symptoms in borderline personality disorder are considered as evidence for a continuum between psychotic illness and sane states of mind. Case examples are discussed to illustrate the...