Obsessive-compulsive existential type: a dialectical-phenomenological approach.

The clinical presentation of obsessive-compulsive patients is characterized by unwanted, intrusive, nonsensical, self-related, and recurrent ideas, thoughts, images, or impulses associated with active compulsive compensations. Under the operational diagnostic criteria adopted by the biological- and cognitive-oriented neopositivist medical paradigm, it is known as "obsessive-compulsive disorder." However, this paradigm has been criticized for its controversial assumptions, limited methodologies, theoretic biases, and inconsistency in producing practical outcomes. To bypass some of these issues, we propose a complementary approach that draws on and further develops existing psychopathological studies of the obsessive-compulsive anthropological condition based on dialectical phenomenological psychopathology. As such, we refer to the global clinical configuration as the "obsessive-compulsive existential type." Our theoretical inspiration comes from the classical phenomenological work on obsessions undertaken by Straus and Gebsattel, which identified the negative transformation of the obsessive-compulsive life-world or the endogenous emergence of the anti-eidos (diluting existential force). We then propose to broaden the concept of anti-eidos, especially in its dialectical correlation with eidos (unifying existential force), representing the existential dialectic between transformation and permanence. Next, we detail the dynamics of anthropological disproportions in obsessive-compulsive existential type, essentially the supremacy of the anti-eidos over the eidos. This primary imbalance modifies the obsessive-compulsive existential structure, consisting of polymorphic temporality; weakened intentionality; maladjusted calibration of distance with the world and others; an integral, isolated, besieged self with dwindling self-agency, and tense and over-protecting embodiment. We also analyze compensatory hyperreflexivity and compulsive rituals as expressions of structural counterbalancing designed to contain the primary structural disproportions and derangements. The heterogeneous obsessive-compulsive clinical manifestations are the complex result of the primary structural alteration and subsequent phenomenological compensations. They tend to be variable in temporal span and rarely assume a fixed form, hindering diagnosis. We correlate structural frameworks with multiple clinical examples. Finally, we raise some insights on how our study may contribute to scientific research and therapeutic proposals.

The lived experience of psychosis: a bottom-up review co-written by experts by experience and academics.

Psychosis is the most ineffable experience of mental disorder. We provide here the first co-written bottom-up review of the lived experience of psychosis, whereby experts by experience primarily selected the subjective themes, that were subsequently enriched by phenomenologically-informed perspectives. First-person accounts within and outside the medical field were screened and discussed in collaborative workshops involving numerous individuals with lived experience of psychosis as well as family members and carers, representing a global network of organizations. The material was complemented by semantic analyses and shared across all collaborators in a cloud-based system. The early phases of psychosis (i.e., premorbid and prodromal stages) were found to be characterized by core existential themes including loss of common sense, perplexity and lack of immersion in the world with compromised vital contact with reality, heightened salience and a feeling that something important is about to happen, perturbation of the sense of self, and need to hide the tumultuous inner experiences. The first episode stage was found to be denoted by some transitory relief associated with the onset of delusions, intense self-referentiality and permeated self-world boundaries, tumultuous internal noise, and dissolution of the sense of self with social withdrawal. Core lived experiences of the later stages (i.e., relapsing and chronic) involved grieving personal losses, feeling split, and struggling to accept the constant inner chaos, the new self, the diagnosis and an uncertain future. The experience of receiving psychiatric treatments, such as inpatient and outpatient care, social interventions, psychological treatments and medications, included both positive and negative aspects, and was determined by the hope of achieving recovery, understood as an enduring journey of reconstructing the sense of personhood and re-establishing the lost bonds with others towards meaningful goals. These findings can inform clinical practice, research and education. Psychosis is one of the most painful and upsetting existential experiences, so dizzyingly alien to our usual patterns of life and so unspeakably enigmatic and human.

New Perspectives in Phenomenological Psychopathology: Its Use in Psychiatric Treatment.

Phenomenological psychopathology is a body of scientific knowledge on which the clinical practice of psychiatry is based since the first decades of the twentieth century, a method to assess the patient's abnormal experiences from their own perspective, and more importantly, a science responsible for delimiting the object of psychiatry. Recently, the frontiers of phenomenological psychopathology have expanded to the productive development of therapeutic strategies that target the whole of existence in their actions. In this article, we present an overview of the current state of this discipline, summing up some of its key concepts, and highlighting its importance to clinical psychiatry today. Phenomenological psychopathology understands mental disorders as modifications of the main dimensions of the life-world: lived time, lived space, lived body, intersubjectivity, and selfhood. Psychopathological symptoms are the expression of a dialectical modification of the proportions of certain domains of the life-world or of the lived experience. The far-reaching relevance of the concepts of proportion and dialectics for the clinical agenda is explored. The article presents two contemporary models for clinical practice based on phenomenological psychopathology: Dialectical-proportional oriented approach and Person-centered dialectic approach (P.H.D. method). The main characteristics of these approaches are considered, as well as the new perspectives they bring to the challenges of psychiatric care in the twentieth-first century.

A meta-analysis of the core essence of psychopathological entities: an historical exercise in phenomenological psychiatry.

Two fundamentally different approaches among phenomenological psychopathologists can be discerned. One is what we call fixed essentialism, where the pathognomonic element of, say, schizophrenia is conceived of as a single, enduring and intrinsically morbid way of grasping all entities in the world, including self and body. The other, which we call dialectical essentialism, accounts for the same manifestations of, say, schizophrenia, but through a process which is not life-enduring, and, most critically vis-à-vis the former formulation, is not in itself a single morbid defect: a morbid pattern of world, self and body is achieved by an imbalance between two or more otherwise healthy constituents of the 'normal' human being, whose imbalance and attempts to resolve this - the dialectic - induce the 'morbidity'.

Phenomenological psychopathology in contemporary psychiatry: interfaces and perspectives / Psicopatologia fenomenológica na psiquiatria contemporânea: interface e perspectivas / Psychopathologie phénoménologique en psychiatrie contemporaine: interface et perspectives / Psicopatología fenomenológica en la psiquiatría contemporánea: interfaz y perspectivas / Phänomenologische Psychopathologie in der zeitgenössischen Psychiatrie: Schnittstelle und Perspektiven

Due to growing skepticism about the current psychiatric model, psychopathology has once again aroused interest in the psychiatric field. This article intends to examine the current perspectives of the phenomenological approach of psychopathology in the context of psychiatry. To this end, we will situate phenomenology along the historical course of psychopathology, presenting the particularities of its understanding of the psychiatric object, and finally, we will defend, in general terms, the affinity of the phenomenological approach with the aspirations and practical needs of the field of psychiatry.

Dado o crescente ceticismo em relação ao modelo psiquiátrico dominante atual, a psicopatologia voltou a despertar interesse como ciência. O presente artigo pretende examinar as perspectivas atuais da psicopatologia fenomenológica no cenário da psiquiatria. Para tal, situaremos sua posição no curso histórico da disciplina psicopatologia, apresentaremos as particularidades de seu entendimento de objeto psiquiátrico e, por fim, defenderemos, em linhas gerais, a afinidade da abordagem fenomenológica com as aspirações e as necessidades de natureza prática do campo da psiquiatria.

En raison du scepticisme croissant à l´égard du modèle psychiatrique dominant actuel, l´interêt pour la psychopathologie comme science est en train de ressurgir. L’article qui suit examine les perspectives contemporaines de la psychopathologie phénoménologique dans le domaine de la psychiatrie. Pour ce faire, les auteurs situent la psychopathologie phénoménologique dans l´histoire de la discipline de la psychopathologie, présentent les particularités de sa façon de comprendre l´objet psychiatrique et pour conclure, soutiennent la pertinence de l´approche phénoménologique en ce qui concerne les aspirations et les exigences pratiques du domaine de la psychiatrie.

Teniendo en cuenta el creciente escepticismo relacionado al modelo psiquiátrico dominante en la actualidad, la psicopatología volvió a despertar interés como ciencia. El presente artículo examina las perspectivas contemporáneas de la psicopatología fenomenológica en el campo psiquiátrico. Para la realización de esta tarea, los autores la ubicarán en el curso histórico de la disciplina psicopatológica, presentarán las particularidades de la comprensión de su objeto psiquiátrico y, finalmente, defenderán la pertinencia del aporte fenomenológico a las aspiraciones y necesidades prácticas de la psiquiatría.

Angesichts des wachsenden Skeptizismus in Bezug auf das aktuelle dominante psychiatrische Modell, steigt das Interesse an die Psychopathologie als Wissenschaft erneut an. Der vorliegende Artikel untersucht die aktuellen Perspektiven der phänomenologischen Psychopathologie im Bezug zur zeitgenössischen Psychiatrie. Zu diesem Zweck analysieren wir ihre Situation im historischen Verlauf der Psychopathologie als Disziplin, erläutern wie sie das psychiatrische Objekt definiert und beschreiben abschliessend in generellen Zügen, wie weit die phänomenologische Vorgehensweise den praktischen Bestrebungen und Bedürfnissen der Psychiatrie entgegenkommt.

Diagnóstico diferencial das demências / The differential diagnosis of dementia

As síndromes demenciais são caracterizadas pela presença de déficit progressivo na função cognitiva, com maior ênfase na perda de memória, e interferência nas atividades sociais e ocupacionais. O diagnóstico diferencial deve, primeiramente, identificar os quadros potencialmente reversíveis, de etiologias diversas, tais como alterações metabólicas, intoxicações, infecções, deficiências nutricionais etc. Nas demências degenerativas primárias e nas formas seqüelares, o diagnóstico etiológico carrega implicações terapêuticas e prognósticas. Sabe-se que o diagnóstico definitivo da maioria das síndromes demenciais depende do exame neuropatológico. Entretanto, uma avaliação clínica cuidadosa incluindo anamnese detalhada, exames físico e neurológico, associado a determinações bioquímicas e de neuroimagem, podem possibilitar maior acurácia no diagnóstico diferencial. Inovações tecnológicas servindo-se de métodos de neuroimagem estrutural e funcional, bem como de técnicas de biologia e genética molecular, têm apresentado perspectivas para o diagnóstico precoce das demências, particularmente da doença de Alzheimer. As diversas etiologias implicadas no desenvolvimento de síndromes demenciais, bem como as respectivas condutas diagnósticas, serão revistas neste artigo.