A Review and Practical Application of Phenomenology in Geriatric Psychiatry

Abstract

Since first being formulated by Karl Jaspers in his work “General Psychopathology”, the association between phenomenology and psychopathology had been the general method on which the clinical practice of psychiatry was based. With a shift in focus to DSM and associated research criteria for the diagnosis of psychiatric disorders, a more traditional trans-diagnostic emphasis on the phenomenology of mental illness has become less common. Within the field of geriatric psychiatry, there are many limitations in applying the current psychiatric nosology to the syndromes we often encounter, namely, the complexity and heterogeneity of even common disorders as they present in the older population. As a result, geriatric psychiatrists are tasked with formulating accurate diagnoses for conditions that often do not fit within our current nosological constructs. This is reflected in our current state of training in the field of geriatric psychiatry, which does not reference any specific diagnostic approach in core competency materials.This session will provide a review of the general concepts of phenomenological psychopathology, a review of the current state of the art regarding the overlap of phenomenology and geriatric psychiatry, and discuss novel diagnostic and treatment paradigms that base their approach on a phenomenological assessment of syndromes with the primary goal of alleviation of suffering and promotion of quality of life in the context of the diagnostic uncertainty so common in our field.