The Qualitative Report
November 20, 2022
Aleš Oblak, Asena Boyadzhieva, Jaya Caporusso et al.
4 citations
Presence—both as objecthood and immersion—is not captured by any single sense but emerges from all available sensory knowledge as a disembodied sense of solidity. Based on 117 phenomenological interviews with 14 participants sampled across positive (e.g., sexual intimacy) and negative (e.g., psychopathology) circumstances, a grounded theory analysis indicates that presence is a transmodal phenomenon, relatable to how aspects of experience translate between sensory modalities. Its relation to lived space helps explain delusion formation as rooted in sensory alterations rather than belief changes. That presence in lived space need not match objective reality informs debates on whether presence is an amodal aspect of consciousness.
Frontiers in Psychiatry
January 1, 2025
Aleksandra Jeličić, Maja Drobnič Radobuljac, Louis Sass et al.
1 citation
People with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and schizophrenia spectrum disorder (SSD) often show similar social difficulties, leading to misdiagnosis. This study used in-depth phenomenological interviews with 42 participants aged 15 to 26, all with at least average intelligence and no acute psychiatric symptoms, to compare their subjective experiences. The SSD group showed higher levels of minimal self-disorder, demarcation phenomena, paranoid anxiety, short-term memory disorder, and magical thinking. Both groups overlapped in obsessive thinking, attention problems, diminished presence in the world, social anxiety, and hyper-reflectivity. The findings suggest that a disorder of ipseity (the sense of self) is central to SSD, while a disorder of primary intersubjectivity is central to ASD.
Frontiers in Psychology
January 1, 2024
Aleš Oblak, Matic Kuclar, Katja Horvat Golob et al.
1 citation
A detailed case study of a patient with multiple psychiatric comorbidities, maladaptive coping mechanisms, and adverse childhood experiences followed for two years. Using phenomenological interviews, neuropsychological assessments, language analysis, and semi-structured interviews, a personalized network model of the patient's lifeworld was constructed. The core psychopathological theme identified was 'the crisis of objectivity'—a persistent mistrust of any information appraised as originating in his subjectivity, developmentally traceable to adverse childhood experiences and a psychotic episode. Correspondence was found between subjective reports and other data sources. Social sensorimotor, positive valence, and negative valence system dysfunctions likely relate to a primary deficit from childhood adversity, while cognitive symptoms may be tied to maladaptive coping mechanisms or the primary disorder.
Cambridge University Press eBooks
July 8, 2026
Borut Škodlar
The chapter explores the phenomenology of emotions in people with schizophrenia, examining both emotional vulnerabilities and transformative experiences. It describes how emotions can become alienating in this condition, while also noting that individuals often have a low threshold for breakthrough experiences ranging from despair and anxiety-laden psychotic states to moments of clarity resembling mystical experiences. The authors argue that understanding these emotional challenges, together with their transformative potential, can inform psychotherapeutic and rehabilitative approaches and help uncover healing dimensions.
Psychopathology
May 19, 2026
Barbara Kariž, Mads Gram Henriksen, Borut Škodlar
Visual art therapy structured by phenomenological insights helps people with schizophrenia explore themselves, articulate emotions, and build narrative identity. In a qualitative case study of 15 patients, twelve sessions of this approach fostered self-exploration, new perspectives, hope, interpersonal communication, and changed perceptions of others. Several patients identified personal challenges they could work on, showing the therapy's potential for supporting recovery and individualized care.
Frontiers in Psychiatry
January 20, 2026
Aleš Oblak, Marko Vrbnjak, Alina Holnthaner et al.
A single-case study of a 60-year-old man with bipolar disorder type I and suspected Asperger's syndrome traces how his autobiographical writings evolved from immediate self-description into a coherent, philosophy-like worldview. Emotional memories, regardless of factual accuracy, served as organizing phenomena that provided existential structure and meaning. The analysis integrates phenomenological, narratological, and linguistic frameworks to show how mood episodes influenced self-experience and identity coherence. The authors argue that cognitive schema theory is limited and that narrative scaffolding and affect-logic better explain worldview formation. They propose that multidisciplinary analysis of autobiographical narration can aid clinical assessment and intervention for complex, comorbid psychiatric disorders.
Frontiers in Psychiatry
January 1, 2026
Aleš Oblak, Sara Rigler, Nika Kovačič et al.
Ruminations are persistent, repetitive, distressing thoughts about negative events and moods, linked to psychiatric disorders and suicidality. This study provides a detailed description of ruminating from a lifeworld perspective, using micro-phenomenological interviews with 51 participants (107 interviews, 79 episodes). Ruminating is an epistemic practice driven by a need to resolve uncertainty after a collapse of commonsense understanding, leading to intellectualization and detachment from embodied responses. It involves paralysis, emptiness, and problematic relationships with knowledge. Rather than a maladaptive thought pattern, ruminating constitutes a complex lifeworld, suggesting a reconceptualization from a unified symptom to a system of interrelated altered experiences.
Frontiers in Psychology
January 1, 2022
Vincent Ringgaard Christoffersen, Borut Škodlar, Mads Gram Henriksen
Tranquility is a fundamental human experience that has been pursued across Eastern and Western philosophical, religious, and spiritual traditions, yet its experiential nature has not been systematically compared. This theoretical study examines central experiences of tranquility from both traditions, sorting them into four categories based on focus: the body, emotions, the mind, and mysticism. The authors propose that these diverse tranquil experiences share common features: a sense of presence and inner peace as content, and a structure involving detachment and absorption. The account is exploratory, aiming to identify what different tranquil experiences may have in common.