The discipline of phenomenological psychopathology has historically focused on elucidating the ways in which persons with psychiatric illnesses experience themselves and the world. Early pioneers in this field were aware of the impact of uncontrollable life events on the onset and course of severe illness, such as Jaspers’ recognition that environmental events may stimulate or enhance certain “innate potentialities” for the development of a disorder. Furthermore, the role of environment and life events in the development and onset of psychiatric illness has been well-documented. For example, there is a clear relationship between the development of psychotic symptoms and life stressors including adverse childhood events, urban living, and migration. However, relatively little attention (with some notable exceptions) has been devoted to exploring the features of those experienced worlds and how they may impact the trajectory of severe illnesses such as schizophrenia, depression, and personality disorders.
The goal of this collection is to advance the capacity of phenomenology and related approaches to incorporate and account for the distinct features of the world or context in which psychopathology develops. It aims to bring together two perspectives that usually are treated separately—subjectivity versus objectivity, or inner life versus external circumstances and events—but that, of course, are not opposed and indeed are obviously in intimate interaction. The emphasis here is both on the ways in which such events or situations are experienced, as well as on the qualities that permit or afford those experiences, and how these might contribute to or prevent the occurrence of psychopathology. This would potentially expand the focus of phenomenological and philosophically-informed research on psychopathology to include not only the subjective alterations that characterize these disorders, but also the pathological or salutary features of the environments in which these disorders arise. It is hoped that this collection will offer novel methodological approaches for exploring these features, and that it will have clear implications for prevention and intervention that go beyond a focus on the individual.
Authors are invited to submit manuscripts that employ phenomenological or related theory and concepts (e.g. enactivism) to explore the aspects of the world that have been shown to play a role in the onset, development, or resolution of psychopathology. Papers may focus on the experiential features of traumatic events, migration, and acculturation, poverty, stigma and social exclusion, urban dwelling, treatment facilities, or any other environmental factor that contributes to the development and progression or treatment of various psychiatric disorders. For example, what might phenomenological studies of the world and of self in psychotic disorders suggest about what may be most pathogenetically decisive in external stressor events, and how these may be experienced by vulnerable individuals? They may also consider how phenomenology can be applied to examine how life events shape experience more generally. We welcome a range of article types, including original research, systematic reviews, methodological papers, general review papers, hypothesis and theory papers, and case reports. For empirical studies, a variety of quantitative, mixed-methods, and qualitative methodological approaches will be considered.
Image: “Industry,” by Arthur Durston (1938). Smithsonian collection, Public domain.
The discipline of phenomenological psychopathology has historically focused on elucidating the ways in which persons with psychiatric illnesses experience themselves and the world. Early pioneers in this field were aware of the impact of uncontrollable life events on the onset and course of severe illness, such as Jaspers’ recognition that environmental events may stimulate or enhance certain “innate potentialities” for the development of a disorder. Furthermore, the role of environment and life events in the development and onset of psychiatric illness has been well-documented. For example, there is a clear relationship between the development of psychotic symptoms and life stressors including adverse childhood events, urban living, and migration. However, relatively little attention (with some notable exceptions) has been devoted to exploring the features of those experienced worlds and how they may impact the trajectory of severe illnesses such as schizophrenia, depression, and personality disorders.
The goal of this collection is to advance the capacity of phenomenology and related approaches to incorporate and account for the distinct features of the world or context in which psychopathology develops. It aims to bring together two perspectives that usually are treated separately—subjectivity versus objectivity, or inner life versus external circumstances and events—but that, of course, are not opposed and indeed are obviously in intimate interaction. The emphasis here is both on the ways in which such events or situations are experienced, as well as on the qualities that permit or afford those experiences, and how these might contribute to or prevent the occurrence of psychopathology. This would potentially expand the focus of phenomenological and philosophically-informed research on psychopathology to include not only the subjective alterations that characterize these disorders, but also the pathological or salutary features of the environments in which these disorders arise. It is hoped that this collection will offer novel methodological approaches for exploring these features, and that it will have clear implications for prevention and intervention that go beyond a focus on the individual.
Authors are invited to submit manuscripts that employ phenomenological or related theory and concepts (e.g. enactivism) to explore the aspects of the world that have been shown to play a role in the onset, development, or resolution of psychopathology. Papers may focus on the experiential features of traumatic events, migration, and acculturation, poverty, stigma and social exclusion, urban dwelling, treatment facilities, or any other environmental factor that contributes to the development and progression or treatment of various psychiatric disorders. For example, what might phenomenological studies of the world and of self in psychotic disorders suggest about what may be most pathogenetically decisive in external stressor events, and how these may be experienced by vulnerable individuals? They may also consider how phenomenology can be applied to examine how life events shape experience more generally. We welcome a range of article types, including original research, systematic reviews, methodological papers, general review papers, hypothesis and theory papers, and case reports. For empirical studies, a variety of quantitative, mixed-methods, and qualitative methodological approaches will be considered.
Image: “Industry,” by Arthur Durston (1938). Smithsonian collection, Public domain.
