Phenomenological Accounts

Chapter 3 traces the early 20th-century importation of phenomenological approaches into psychiatric discourse on schizophrenia. Karl Jaspers, influenced by Edmund Husserl, described an intersubjective impasse as the essence of schizophrenia, which he viewed as ultimately 'un-understandable.' Later phenomenologists departed from Jaspers' view of empathic impossibility, positing that psychosis involves core alterations in the experience of self and world that can be meaningfully understood from the perspective of lived experience. The chapter outlines varied phenomenological attempts to describe psychosis, including R.D. Laing's theory of ontological insecurity, Blankenburg's loss of 'natural self-evidence,' and Louis Sass and colleagues' 'ipseity disturbance model.'

Study at a glance

Abstract

Chapter 3 describes the importation, starting in the early 20th century, of phenomenological alternatives into the predominant psychiatric discourse on schizophrenia. One of the earliest to import phenomenology into psychosis research was Swiss-German psychiatrist Karl Jaspers, who, influenced by the philosopher Edmund Husserl, described an intersubjective impasse as the essence of schizophrenia, which he viewed as ultimately 'un-understandable.' Subsequent phenomenologically oriented researchers departed from Jaspers’ view of empathic impossibility by positing that psychosis was comprised by core alterations in the experiences of self and world that, albeit unusual, can be meaningfully understood from the perspective of lived experience. From R.D. Laing's theory of ontological insecurity to Blankenburg's description of the loss of 'natural self-evidence' and Louis Sass and colleagues’ 'ipseity disturbance model,' this chapter outlines the varied attempts of phenomenologists to describe psychosis and schizophrenia from the perspective of lived experience.