Atmosphere: On the Phenomenology of "Atmospheric" Alterations in Schizophrenia - Overall Sense of Reality, Familiarity, Vitality, Meaning, or Relevance (Ancillary Article to EAWE Domain 5).
Psychopathology 2017 DOI: 10.1159/000454884 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Philosophy of mind |
| Key points | Argues that atmospheric alterations—such as Jaspers's "delusional mood" and experiences grouped under "derealization"—are key aspects of altered subjectivity in mental disorder, and proposes that Sass's "ontological" dimension and Ratcliffe's "existential feeling" offer complementary ways of approaching them. Surveys phenomenological psychopathology on such alterations in schizophrenia spectrum conditions through themes of diminished reality, altered meaning, disrupted familiarity, and diminished vitality and relevance. |
Abstract
"Atmospheric" alterations are key aspects of altered subjectivity in mental disorder. Karl Jaspers famously described the "delusional mood": a sense of uncanny salience and ominousness that often precedes the onset of schizophrenic psychosis or of delusions. Such experiences, he writes, involve "a transformation in our total awareness of reality" that often verges on ineffability. In psychiatry, these experiential alterations are often referred to in terms of "derealization." Though derealization most obviously refers to a decline in the sense of objective presence or felt actuality, it can also refer to other unusual experiences in which things seem unlike normal or standard reality, including altered familiarity, vitality, meaning, or relevance. This paper first describes two complementary ways of approaching these phenomena: the notion of an "ontological" dimension (Sass) and that of "existential feeling" (Ratcliffe). It then offers a wider-ranging synopsis of work in phenomenological psychopathology that has sought to address atmospheric alterations believed to be especially characteristic of schizophrenia spectrum conditions, focusing on the themes of a diminished sense of reality, altered sense of meaning, disrupted feeling of familiarity, and diminished vitality and relevance.
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
- The loss of nosological validity: why and how should we consider disturbances of subjective world experience? Revista Psicopatologia Fenomenológica Contemporânea October 17, 2018
- Phenomenology of Hallucinations in Endogenous and Substance-Related Exogenous Psychoses. Psychopathology 2026
- A 20-Year Descriptive Phenomenological Study of Depersonalization and Derealization as an Alteration in Sense of Self and Lifeworld. Schizophrenia Bulletin April 10, 2026
- Enlightened Joy and Love, Selflessness and Beyond IntechOpen eBooks December 13, 2024
- Phenomenology of Subjective Anomalous Experiences in People with Schizophrenia. Culture, Medicine, and Psychiatry May 23, 2026
and 1 more in the library