Hyper-réflexivité et perspective en première personne : un apport décisif de la psychopathologie phénoménologique contemporaine à la compréhension de la schizophrénie

Abstract

ObjectivesThis paper considers the hypothesis of schizophrenic hyper reflexivity, which originates in the field of phenomenological psychopathology. It discusses the methodological context enabling these highly subjective manifestations to emerge. Starting from the seminal hypothesis developed by contemporary psychopathology that schizophrenic patients experience a form of consciousness that finds itself forced to question phenomena that should be intuitively self-evident, the idea of the present paper is to complete the usual interpretation of schizophrenia as a deficit by the hypothesis of an excessive functioning of consciousness. MethodsThe first-person perspective is a qualitative approach completing the third-person interpretation, traditional in the field of psychiatry, which consists in the attribution, from an external position, of clinical signs noted independently from the perceptions expressed by the patient. The first-person perspective focuses on the patient's subjective experience as expressed by that individual. To understand schizophrenia according to this perspective, the narratives of several schizophrenic patients were collected in a clinical setting. We used the EASE scale (Examination of Anomalous Self-Experience) for this purpose. This scale offers a phenomenologically-oriented semi-structured exploration of a set of difficulties revealing anomalies in subjective experience, considered as self-awareness disturbances. EASE was developed on the basis of self-descriptions by patients suffering from schizophrenic spectrum disorders. This tool enables the co-construction of a language between patient and clinician, focused on the patient's particular experiences and the unique phenomena he has to cope with. ResultsAlongside the hyper reflexivity phenomena, the qualitative analyses of the descriptions collected highlight two important features of schizophrenic being-in-the-world. First a common sense issue, which raises the question of inter-subjectivity and the scope for schizophrenic patients to share in a social world. Secondly, the existence of an intercorporeality disturbance, since the schizophrenic hyper reflexivity experiences are accompanied by a loss of the “common body”, the body being the scene where inter-subjectivity is played out. DiscussionThe use of the EASE scale and the application of the first-person perspective provides a relevant psychotherapeutic approach, both in the process of acknowledgement of the illness (required from the patient as well as from the clinician), and in communication with the families of schizophrenic patients. ConclusionsThe phenomenological interpretation provided by the application of a first-person perspective in the understanding of schizophrenic patients’ experiences, and the inclusion of hyper reflexivity phenomenon, suggest perspectives on schizophrenia that are no longer reduced to a mere interpretation of deficit (without denying the deficit), showing not a weakening, but a surprising intensification of consciousness.