Phenomenological Psychopathology, Profundity, and Schizophrenia

The profound and characteristic modification of schizophrenic existence is a typical kind of depersonalization (the living body becomes a functioning body, a thing-like mechanism in which mental phenomena take place as if they happened in an outer space) and a special kind of derealization (the interpersonal scene becomes a stage on which the patient feels unable to make sense of what the others are doing). I argue that schizophrenic depersonalization/derealization is based on a disorder of common sense epitomized by the hendiadys “deanimated body”—the experience of feeling distant and lifeless—and “disembodied spirit”—the sharp awareness of observing that appears separated from the experience of existing. This basic disturbance is sometimes experienced by persons with schizophrenia, some other times it may pass un-experienced, and can be rescued via phenomenological analysis. This basic disturbance is typical of persons with schizophrenia in the sense that it contributes to a clear-cut differentiation—better than surface signs and symptoms—between schizophrenia and other forms of psychotic existence.