A phenomenological approach to psychoprosthetics

Abstract

The phenomenology of human embodiment can advance the practitioner’s understanding of the lived human body and in particular, what it means to incorporate a prosthetic device into one’s body. In order for a prosthesis to be incorporated into the lived body of the patient, the prosthesis must arguably be integrated into the body schema. This article uses the phenomenology of Maurice Merleau-Ponty and others to identify three of the necessary conditions of embodiment that determine the body schema: corporeal understanding, transparency and sensorimotor feedback. It then examines the structure of each of these conditions of embodiment and how they impact the lived body’s incorporation of prostheses and other artifacts.Implications for RehabilitationPhenomenology complements evidence-based research in the field of psychoprosthetics by a systematic study of the experience of what it is like for the prosthesis user to incorporate a prosthetic device into his or her body.The practictioner can use phenomenological insight to assess the qualitative progress of rehabilitation. In particular, significant progress towards the incorporation of the prosthetic device is achieved when the prothesis user experiences sensory and kinesthetic feedback as coming not from the interface between the residual limb and the prosthetic device, but from the combined residual limb – prosthetic device and its interface with the environment. An even more complete incorporation is experienced when the prosthesis becomes transparent, that is, when the prothesis user is focused on the perceptual object or behavioral goal rather than on the prosthetic device.