Phenomenological Psychopathology and Neuroscience

Author(s):  
Georg Northoff

The aim of this chapter is to introduce spatiotemporal psychopathology and the way it may complement and extend phenomenological psychopathology by bridging the methodological gap between brain and experience. The first section gives examples of spatiotemporal correspondence between neuronal and psychopathological features. Specifically, it discusses how spatial changes in the brain’s spontaneous activity translate into abnormal experience of the self in major depressive disorder (MDD). This is followed by the second section which focuses on spatiotemporal continuity. Specifically, the second section highlights the special relevance of temporal changes in spontaneous activity and its relation to the world and how that translates into hallucinations in schizophrenia. Finally, the third section briefly discusses the method of such spatiotemporal psychopathology and distinguishes it from other forms of psychopathology with a special focus on showing the continuity between spatiotemporal and phenomenological psychopathology.

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (5) ◽  
pp. 135-150

The springboard for this essay is the author’s encounter with the feeling of horror and her attempts to understand what place horror has in philosophy. The inquiry relies upon Leonid Lipavsky’s “Investigation of Horror” and on various textual plunges into the fanged and clawed (and possibly noumenal) abyss of Nick Land’s work. Various experiences of horror are examined in order to build something of a typology, while also distilling the elements characteristic of the experience of horror in general. The essay’s overall hypothesis is that horror arises from a disruption of the usual ways of determining the boundaries between external things and the self, and this leads to a distinction between three subtypes of horror. In the first subtype, horror begins with the indeterminacy at the boundaries of things, a confrontation with something that defeats attempts to define it and thereby calls into question the definition of the self. In the second subtype, horror springs from the inability to determine one’s own boundaries, a process opposed by the crushing determinacy of the world. In the third subtype, horror unfolds by means of a substitution of one determinacy by another which is unexpected and ungrounded. In all three subtypes of horror, the disturbance of determinacy deprives the subject, the thinking entity, of its customary foundation for thought, and even of an explanation of how that foundation was lost; at times this can lead to impairment of the perception of time and space. Understood this way, horror comes within a hair’s breadth of madness - and may well cross over into it.


Author(s):  
Mansu KIM

This paper focused on the structure of the growth stories, especially in surveying Gangbaek Lee’s (이강백) drama “Like Looking at the Flower in the Mid-winter (동지섣달 꽃 본 듯이)”. It is structured by ‘rule of the three’. In this text, three sons go to seek their mother, they experience the tests three times. Third son wins the game because he succeeds to find his true and alternative mother. It is similar to the story of English fairy tale “Three Little Pigs”.  In Freudian terms, the characters of the both texts are superego, ego and id. The core of the growth story is that third son (id) wins the first son (superego) and the second son (ego) by using his own energy (meaningful labor). In Levi Strauss’ terms, the contrast between the third and the others can be schemed the contrast between culture and nature. Lee’s drama presents the third son as the real hero who overcomes two elder brothers. The first is so conservative (oversleep), the second is so selfish (overeat). Two brothers were too political or too ideal to become a true, humanistic and warm-minded adult. In his view, ‘drama’ related to the third son is the most humanistic and warm-minded action in the world. These both stories are based on the plot ‘rags to riches’ which contains the success of the poor and powerless. In other words, the poor and weak child can grow to the true hero, and reach the final destination, according to the Gustav Jung’s expression, ‘the Self as a Whole’.


2010 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Aaron Schart

This paper proposes a reading of the Book of the Twelve (used interchangeably with �Twelve� and �Book� for convenience) that concentrates on the sound that is included in the description of the world of the text. Three onomatopoeic devices are singled out. First, the mourning cry h�y is considered. This interjection is used differently in several of the writings: in Amos (5:18; 6:1) the prophet cries out in compassion with the addressees. By contrast, in Nahum 3:1 and Habakkuk 2:6�19, h�y is uttered in a mood of mockery. In Zechariah 2:10 a third, joyful h�y is used. It appears that the different usages cohere nicely with the overall structure of the Book of the Twelve. Secondly, the interjection has likewise shows different usages. In Amos 6:10 and 8:3, it simulates the last breath of Israelites dying when the land is devastated. By contrast, in Habakkuk 2:20, Zephaniah 1:7 and Zechariah 2:17, the addressees are directed to be silent before YHWH. This command should be perceived as an act of reverence. Again, the sequence of the occurrences coheres with the overall structure of the Book of the Twelve. Of special relevance is that the last three instances build a frame around the Babylonian exile, which lies between Zephaniah and Haggai. The third example is the phrase ham�n�m, ham�n�m in Joel 4:14. The author employs an irregular double plural to construe this place as the loudest spot (�apocalyptic noise�) within the Twelve.Setu sa go tiba le modumo wa aphokhaliptiki: Ditemogo ka medumo ya Puku ya ba LesomepediPampiri ye e �i�inya go balwa ga Puku ya ba Lesomepedi (yeo e ka nogo bit�wa �Lesomepedi� goba �Puku� go bebofat�a ditaba) ka go gatelela modumo wo o lego ka gare ga tlhaloso ya lefase la go tswala dingwalo t�e. Ditsela t�e tharo t�a onomathopoiki di bewa pepeneng. La mathomo, go �et�wa sello sa mahloko sa h?y. Lelahlelwa le le �omi�wa ka go fapana mo dingwalong t�e mmalwa: go Amosi (5:18; 6:1) moprofeta o lla ka kwelabohloko go bangwalelwa ba gagwe. Go fapana le seo, mo go Nahume 3:1 le Habakuku 2: 6-19, h?y e t�welet�wa ka moya wa dikwero. Mo go Sakaria 2:10, go diri�wa h?y ya boraro e le ya lethabo. Go bonala nke dit�homi�o t�e tharo t�e t�a go fapana di nyalelana gobotse le sebopego sa Puku ya ba Lesomepedi. Sa bobedi, lelahlelwa has le lona le laet�a dit�homi�o t�a go fapana. Mo go Amosi 6:10 le 8:3, le tso�olo�a mohemo wa mafelelo wa Baisraele ge ba ehwa ka go bona go senywa ga naga. Go fapana le seo, ka go Habakuku 2:20, Tsefaya 1:7 le Sakaria 2:7, bangwalelwa ba laelwa go homola pele ga YHWH. Taelo ye e swanet�e go kwe�i�wa e le tiro ya go laet�a tlhompho. Gapegape, tatelano ya ditiragalo e nyalana gabotse le sebopego sa Puku ya ba Lesomepedi. Se maleba le go fete�i�a ke gore mabaka a mararo a mafelelo a aga freime go tiragalo ya bothop�a bja Babilonia, bjoo bo welago magareng ga Tsefanya le Hagai. Mohlala wa boraro ke sekafoko ham�nim mo go Joele 4:14. Mongwadi o diri�a sebopego sa go se tlwaelege sa bobedi mo bont�ing go laet�a lefelo le e le la modumo wa go feta yohle (�modumo wa apholiphtiki�) mo go Lesomepedi.


1987 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 493-508 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerard Loughlin

How is Christian theology, as the self-understanding of the Christian life, to understand the world religions? How is it to understand them in relation to itself? In recent years Professor John Hick has proposed a pluralist paradigm of the world religions which would, if acceptable, answer these sort of questions. In this article we are going to consider the acceptability of Hick's paradigm to Christian theology. The question we want to put to it is simple: Will it do as a model for how Christian theology may begin to think its relation to the world religions?Our discussion is in three parts. In the first part we present Hick's paradigm in, what we take to be, it's strongest form, defending it against certain criticisms. In the second part we consider its phenomenological foundations and the possibility of its judicious evaluation. Finally, in the third part, we offer a critique and come to a conclusion about it's acceptability to Christian theology. However, our answer is only a small contribution to a much larger task: ‘the theological understanding of non-Christian religions’.


2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-12
Author(s):  
Min Pun

The paper aims to examine the self in Oscar Wilde’s one-act play Salomé. In the play, there are three characters, namely, Herod, Salomé and Jokanaan who represent the three different worlds of expression. One represents the world of politics who is always in search of power, the second represents the world of sex who is in search of love and passion, and the third one represents the world of spirit who dedicates his life for God. These characters comprise of three different selves of Wilde and his writing, making his play as a fictionalized autobiographical work.


2018 ◽  
Vol 49 (4) ◽  
pp. 639-645 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer R. Goldschmied ◽  
Philip Cheng ◽  
Robert Hoffmann ◽  
Elaine M. Boland ◽  
Patricia J. Deldin ◽  
...  

AbstractBackgroundStudies have demonstrated that decreases in slow-wave activity (SWA) predict decreases in depressive symptoms in those with major depressive disorder (MDD), suggesting that there may be a link between SWA and mood. The aim of the present study was to determine if the consequent change in SWA regulation following a mild homeostatic sleep challenge would predict mood disturbance.MethodsThirty-seven depressed and fifty-nine healthy adults spent three consecutive nights in the sleep laboratory. On the third night, bedtime was delayed by 3 h, as this procedure has been shown to provoke SWA. The Profile of Mood States questionnaire was administered on the morning following the baseline and sleep delay nights to measure mood disturbance.ResultsResults revealed that following sleep delay, a lower delta sleep ratio, indicative of inadequate dissipation of SWA from the first to the second non-rapid eye movement period, predicted increased mood disturbance in only those with MDD.ConclusionsThese data demonstrate that in the first half of the night, individuals with MDD who have less SWA dissipation as a consequence of impaired SWA regulation have greater mood disturbance, and may suggest that appropriate homeostatic regulation of sleep is an important factor in the disorder.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Ciaunica ◽  
Casper Hesp ◽  
Anil Seth ◽  
Jakub Limanowski ◽  
Karl Friston

This paper considers the phenomenology of depersonalisation disorder, in relation to predictive processing and its associated pathophysiology. To do this, we first establish a few mechanistic tenets of predictive processing that are necessary to talk about phenomenal transparency, mental action, and self as subject. We briefly review the important role of ‘predicting precision’ and how this affords mental action and the loss of phenomenal transparency. We then turn to sensory attenuation and the phenomenal consequences of (pathophysiological) failures to attenuate or modulate sensory precision. We then consider this failure in the context of depersonalisation disorder. The key idea here is that depersonalisation disorder reflects the remarkable capacity to explain perceptual engagement with the world via the hypothesis that “I am an embodied perceiver, but I am not in control of my perception”. We suggest that individuals with depersonalisation may believe that ‘another agent’ is controlling their thoughts, perceptions or actions, while maintaining full insight that the ‘another agent’ is ‘me’ (the self). Finally, we rehearse the predictions of this formal analysis, with a special focus on the psychophysical and physiological abnormalities that may underwrite the phenomenology of depersonalisation.


2019 ◽  
pp. 3-32
Author(s):  
William W. Eaton ◽  
O. Joseph Bienvenu ◽  
Gerald Nestadt ◽  
Heather E. Volk ◽  
James C. Anthony

This chapter describes seventeen important mental disorders and reviews studies of the prevalence of the disorders from around the world, presenting median and interquartile ranges for more than four hundred research studies. The range of prevalences is below 0.5% for eating disorders and schizophrenia, and above 5% for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, major depressive disorder, phobias, personality disorders, and dementia. The chapter discusses methods for judging the disability adjusted life years (DALYs) for the disorders and compares estimates to other diseases considered in the Global Burden of Disease study. Mental and substance use disorders account for more than 160 million of the total DALYs in the world, or about 7% of the total. Major depressive disorder is the leading causes of DALYs among the mental and substance use disorders.


F1000Research ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 619 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Frodl

Major depressive disorder is one of the leading causes of disability in the world since depression is highly frequent and causes a strong burden. In order to reduce the duration of depressive episodes, clinicians would need to choose the most effective therapy for each individual right away. A prerequisite for this would be to have biomarkers at hand that would predict which individual would benefit from which kind of therapy (for example, pharmacotherapy or psychotherapy) or even from which kind of antidepressant class. In the past, neuroimaging, electroencephalogram, genetic, proteomic, and inflammation markers have been under investigation for their utility to predict targeted therapies. The present overview demonstrates recent advances in all of these different methodological areas and concludes that these approaches are promising but also that the aim to have such a marker available has not yet been reached. For example, the integration of markers from different systems needs to be achieved. With ongoing advances in the accuracy of sensing techniques and improvement of modelling approaches, this challenge might be achievable.


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