Frontiers in Psychiatry (Feb 2015)
The lived body in schizophrenia: Transition from basic self-disorders to full-blown psychosis
Abstract
This paper provides the results of a phenomenological study of patients with schizophrenia during their first psychiatric hospitalisation. The study aims at clarify aspects related to the diagnosis of schizophrenia and to reach a greater understanding of the illness, with a view to contribute to prevention and psychotherapeutic intervention models. Firstly, the paper offers a description of the patients’ disembodiment manifested in acute phases of schizophrenia. Secondly, it presents a description of the subjective anomalies that may be considered as disorders of ipseity or of pre-reflexive self-awareness. Thirdly, the description is extended to encompass secondary disturbances to processes of establishing consensual intersubjectivity that lead to difficulties in shared communication practices and a progressive withdrawal from the intersubjective world. The conclusion states that a structural element, a key part of the personal processes involved in schizophrenia, is the diminishment of self-presence in experience, which manifests on both individual and social levels.
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