The phenomenology and neurobiology of delusion formation during psychosis onset: Jaspers, Truman symptoms, and aberrant salience.
Aaron Mishara, Paolo Fusar‐poli
Schizophrenia Bulletin March 2013 DOI: 10.1093/schbul/sbs155 (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 Jaspers' phenomenological account of delusions as nonunderstandable due to disrupted neurobiological development remains relevant to current research. The authors propose that delusional mood and Truman symptoms are core phenomenological features at psychosis onset, and that their formation through loss of context in experiential-perceptual origins is consistent with the aberrant salience and dopamine dysregulation models. |
Abstract
Following the publication of Karl Jaspers' General Psychopathology (1913), delusions have been characterized as being nonunderstandable in terms of the person's biography, motivations, and historical-cultural context. According to Jaspers, this loss of understandability is due to an underlying neurobiological process, which has interrupted the normal development of the individual's personality. Inheriting the 19th-century division between the natural- and human-historical sciences, Jaspers emphasizes the psychological understanding of mental disorders as narrative-based, holistic, and contextual. By doing so, he embraces cultural, ethnic, and individual differences and anticipates a person-centered medicine. However, he also affirms the value of explanatory neurobiological approaches, especially in the research and diagnosis of delusions. The phenomenological approach leads to neurobiological hypotheses, which can be tested experimentally. The present article addresses these issues by illustrating Jaspers' fundamental contribution to current neurobiological research concerning the formation of delusions during early phases of psychosis. Specifically, we present delusional mood and Truman symptoms as core phenomenological features at the origin of psychosis onset, and we discuss their neurobiological substrate with the aberrant salience and dopamine dysregulation models. Jaspers and his successors' phenomenological approach suggests that delusion is formed through loss of context in its experiential-perceptual origins. This is consistent with the more recent neurobiological models.
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| 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 24
- The lived experience of psychosis: a bottom-up review co-written by experts by experience and academics. World Psychiatry June 1, 2022
- Phenomenological and neurocognitive perspectives on delusions: A critical overview. World Psychiatry June 1, 2015
- Thought insertion as a self-disturbance: An integration of predictive coding and phenomenological approaches Frontiers in Human Neuroscience December 22, 2016
- Is Schizophrenia a Disorder of Consciousness? Experimental and Phenomenological Support for Anomalous Unconscious Processing. Frontiers in Psychology 2017
- Seeing without self: Discovering new meaning with psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy Neuropsychoanalysis July 3, 2019
and 19 more in the library
Cites 3
- Psychosis as a state of aberrant salience: a framework linking biology, phenomenology, and pharmacology in schizophrenia. American Journal of Psychiatry 2003
- Adolescence, Indifferentiation, and the Onset of Psychosis Contagion Journal of Violence Mimesis and Culture March 1, 1999
- Klaus Conrad (1905-1961): delusional mood, psychosis, and beginning schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Bulletin December 4, 2009