Phenomenology and psychopathology: was there ever a relationship?
Comprehensive Psychiatry July 1, 1993 DOI: 10.1016/0010-440x(93)90001-k (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Historical analysis Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Philosophy of mind |
| Keywords | Humans Existentialism Mental disorders Psychopathology History, 18th century History, 19th century History, 20th century Germany Terminology as topic |
| Key points | Argues against the belief that phenomenology supplied the conceptual basis of descriptive psychopathology and the DSM-III-R, contending that the alliance was a "marriage of convenience" and that Jaspers made his own views appear grounded in Husserlian phenomenology. A comparison of the clinical meaning and usage of mental symptoms before and after 1913 indicates Jaspers borrowed extensively from nineteenth-century alienists and that calling his views phenomenological added little to their meaning. |
Abstract
The philosophical doctrine known as phenomenology is believed by many to have provided during the early 20th century the conceptual basis of the new descriptive language of psychiatry, the very language that made possible the development of systems such as the DSM-III-R. To ascertain whether this is in fact the case is essential to the solution of technical problems affecting current psychopathological descriptions. This report argues against the above-mentioned belief, and suggests that the alliance between phenomenology and descriptive psychopathology was just a marriage of convenience, and that it was Karl Jaspers who made it appear as if his own views were based on Husserlian phenomenology. Indeed, a comparison of the clinical meaning and usage of mental symptoms before and after 1913 shows that Jaspers borrowed a great deal from 19th-century alienists, and that calling his views phenomenological added little to their meaning.
Comparable studies
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|---|---|---|---|
| Psychosis as a state of aberrant salience: a framework linking biology, phenomenology, and pharmacology in schizophrenia. | 2003 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
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| 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 |