Schizophrenia, Subjectivity, and Mindreading.
Matthew M. Nour, Alvaro Barrera
Schizophrenia Bulletin April 5, 2015 DOI: 10.1093/schbul/sbv035 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Philosophy of mind |
| Keywords | Humans Self concept Social perception Schizophrenia Theory of mind Bayesian inference Predictive coding Self-disorder |
| Key points | Argues that phenomenological approaches to schizophrenia, which emphasize altered self-awareness and decreased prereflective social attunement, are not incompatible with neurocomputational accounts of mindreading. Proposes that understanding others relies on coherent internal self-models, so self-disturbance may impair social understanding, and that the two approaches should mutually constrain and enlighten each other, with implications for psychotherapy and research. |
Abstract
A number of recent articles, many appearing in Schizophrenia Bulletin, signal a renewed interest in phenomenological approaches to our understanding of schizophrenia. These approaches conceptualize schizophrenia as a disorder of altered self-awareness and decreased prereflective social attunement, which may manifest as an impaired understanding of self, others, and the physical world. Phenomenological approaches to psychopathology are sometimes construed as being incompatible with the reductionistic methodology of contemporary neuroscience. In this article, we re-examine findings from the phenomenological investigation of schizophrenia in light of an influential neurocomputational account of mindreading, which postulates that understanding of others is subserved by coherent internal self-models. We argue that the phenomenological approach to schizophrenia is not incompatible with a neurocomputational account of mindreading, and that the 2 approaches should instead be viewed as existing in a relationship of mutual constraint and enlightenment. Our hypothesis, while speculative, is an attempt to marry the phenomenological and neuronal realities of schizophrenia. Furthermore, it has implications for psychotherapeutic interventions and future research.
Comparable studies
Other theoretical and historical papers on philosophy of mind, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Psychosis as a state of aberrant salience: a framework linking biology, phenomenology, and pharmacology in schizophrenia. | 2003 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| From dopamine to salience to psychosis--linking biology, pharmacology and phenomenology of psychosis. | 2005 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| How do the brain's time and space mediate consciousness and its different dimensions? Temporo-spatial theory of consciousness (TTC). | 2017 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| The phenomenology of deep brain stimulation-induced changes in OCD: an enactive affordance-based model. | 2013 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Looking for the Self: Phenomenology, Neurophysiology and Philosophical Significance of Drug-induced Ego Dissolution | 2017 | Theoretical or philosophical paper |
Citations in the library
Cited by 6
- Ego-Dissolution and Psychedelics: Validation of the Ego-Dissolution Inventory (EDI) Frontiers in Human Neuroscience June 14, 2016
- Looking for the Self: Phenomenology, Neurophysiology and Philosophical Significance of Drug-induced Ego Dissolution Frontiers in Human Neuroscience May 23, 2017
- Psychedelics and the science of self-experience The British Journal of Psychiatry March 1, 2017
- Thinking in schizophrenia and the social phenomenology of thought insertion Philosophical Psychology March 26, 2024
- From Ego to Death: Validation of the Ego-Dissolution Scale (EDS) July 27, 2022
and 1 more in the library
Cites 7
- A disappearing heritage: the clinical core of schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Bulletin July 19, 2011
- What is it like to be a person with schizophrenia in the social world? A first-person perspective study on Schizophrenic dissociality--part 1: state of the art. Psychopathology 2011
- The Phenomenological Mind December 22, 2007
- The "minimal self" in psychopathology: re-examining the self-disorders in the schizophrenia spectrum September 1, 2007
- Anomalous Subjective Experience among First-Admitted Schizophrenia Spectrum Patients: Empirical Investigation Psychopathology 2005
and 2 more in the library