Bodily Phenomena Research Articles

Психологическая структура телесности

<p>In the article, the authors continued to develop the concept of corporeality as the higher psychological function, and presented an original model of the psychological structure of corporeality, developed on the basis of a cultural-historical and phenomenological approaches. The need to create such a model is due to the ambiguity of horizontal connections and hierarchical relationships between various bodily phenomena. As the higher psychological function, corporeality should have an appropriate level structure within which it would be possible to qualify bodily phenomena. In the psychological structure of corporeality, we have identified the following components: the body image, the phenomena of body ownership and body agency, bodily functions. To distinguish these elements as separate taxonomic units, we turned to the results of empirical studies that use the clinical principle of double dissociation.</p>

The role of psychotic-like experiences in the association between aberrant salience and anxiety: A psychopathological proposal based on a case-control study.

Aberrant salience (AS) and psychotic-like experiences (PLEs) have been proven to be linked. Moreover, anxiety is a key symptom in psychosis-prone subjects and most psychotic patients. We propose a model that attempts to interpret the role of PLEs in the association between AS and anxiety among healthy controls and psychotic patients. Demographic and psychometric data (Aberrant Salience Inventory, Community Assessment of Psychic Experiences, Symptom Check List-90-revised) from 163 controls and 44 psychotic patients was collected. Descriptive statistics, correlations, a linear regression model and a mediation analysis with covariates were subsequently performed. AS correlated with more frequent positive PLEs and higher anxiety levels in both patients and controls. However, positive PLEs' frequency mediated the relationship between AS and anxiety only among controls. PLEs linked to AS appear to induce anxiety among the control group but not among psychotic patients. The progressive loss of both novelty and insight, which may, respectively, impair the somatic emotional reactivity to PLEs and the ability to recognize some bodily phenomena as the embodied correlates of anxiety, is seen as the most probable theoretical explanation.

Ageing with apps: A Foucauldian study exploring older people’s use of apps in managing their physical health

This article explores the incorporation of mobile applications in older people’s physical health management through the lens of Foucault’s concepts on self-governance. Based on ten interviews with older Danes, the article posits that physical health management practices constitute practices of self-governance, involving participants’ attunement to both physical activity and bodily phenomena, which are both facilitated and optimized through app-based self-tracking. The findings align the rationales driving participants’ efforts with the trajectory of the governmental concept of active ageing. Using apps thus becomes intertwined with participants’ efforts towards ageing successfully, consequently taking on a dual function: Apps strengthen the adherence to norms of conduct for achieving an optimal ageing process by allowing for ubiquitous self-monitoring and self-assessment. Simultaneously, I argue that apps may also act as a gatekeeper, as lacking the technical competencies to efficiently use apps hinders effective health management and thus clashes with efforts conforming to active ageing.

The body in psychotherapy

Based on the psychoanalytic tools of (counter)transference, the importance of bodily phenomena that affect the body of the body psychotherapist is presented as a concept of bodily countertransference in concentrative movement therapy and illustrated by a practical example. Bodily (counter)transference is both a diagnostic tool and action guiding for the design of the therapy process. The defence process of projective identification is of special significance in body psychotherapeutic processes. The effect of body psychotherapeutic action, co-movement and body contact in the context of bodily (counter)transference is discussed. Furthermore, the question arises which traces physical (counter)transference leaves in the body of the body psychotherapist and what influence do physical changes, impairments and illnesses of body psychotherapists have on the therapeutic (counter)transference process?

Fichte's conception of the body: The intertwining of sociality and embodiment

AbstractWhile the relation between embodiment and intersubjectivity is often remarked upon in the literature on Fichte, it is not sufficiently acknowledged that for Fichte the two are strongly interdependent. In this paper, by elaborating on his account of the fine structure of the embodied agency, I argue that for Fichte one's relation to one's own body is socially constituted. Further, I show that the usual stricture in the literature, according to which Fichte does not allow for bodily passivity, is misleading. Indeed, as I argue, Fichte's account of embodied agency is sufficiently nuanced as to be able to explain “passive bodily expressions,” that is, those bodily expressions that are not under direct control of the agent. And related to that, contrary to the commonly held view, Fichte does offer a satisfactory account of the more sentient bodily phenomena, such as pain, hunger, and fatigue, which happen to the agent without her being capable of controlling their happening. Indeed, as I will show, for Fichte, these latter phenomena, rather than being simply restrictive of agency, may positively contribute to the exercise of agency.

Self, insula and dementia with Lewy bodies

AbstractBackgroundThe objective is to review in the literature evidence of the relationship between the Self, the insular cortex, and Dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB). The notion of “Self” encompasses a subjective part that integrates the most internal bodily phenomena of self‐awareness, and an objective part that sustains autobiographical memory and its most specific details. Modifications of the Self, such as anosognosia and personal identity, or autobiographical memory deterioration, are frequently reported by relatives and noticed by clinicians, jointly with insular atrophy, which occurs early in the course of the disease.MethodWe performed research on PubMed and Google Scholar, using MeSH subheadings and keywords, limited to papers in English; 226 publications contributed to the review. The terms “Lewy bodies”, “Insula”, “Self” and different aspects related to the self, such as “subjective sense of self”, “self‐concept” and “autobiographical memory” were used to denote the themes of interest.ResultThe evidence suggest that insula is a multiconnected brain region involved in processing varied aspects of the self. On the one hand, insula’s posterior part integrates primary interoceptive representations through sensorimotor processes, and on the other hand insula’s anterior part sustains and integrates viscerosensory responses, socio‐emotional processing and cognitive functions, allowing the emergence of self‐awareness. In addition, changes in personal tastes resulting from insular atrophy have been highlighted in DLB. However, there is, to date, little work exploring the different components of the self (i.e. subjective sense of self; self‐concept; autobiographical memory) in DLB.ConclusionBased on our literature review, it seems that no experimental work have ever been performed on the Self in DLB. Numerous aspects related to the Self, from the most primitive to more elaborated ones are worthy of being studied in this affection, whose anatomic peculiarity sets in early insular damage. We intend to investigate these questionings in DLB, compared to Alzheimer disease – which is characterized by an early deterioration of episodic autobiographical memory – and healthy elderly population, by combining behavioral measures and multimodal neuroimaging, with a particular interest for the insular cortex.

A New Perspective on Human Rights in the Use of Physical Restraint on Psychiatric Patients-Based on Merleau-Ponty's Phenomenology of the Body.

(1) Background: Physical restraint in psychiatric settings must be determined by health care professionals for ensuring their patients’ safety. However, when a patient cannot participate in the process of deciding what occurs in their own body, can they even be considered as a personal self who lives in and experiences the lifeworld? The purpose of this study is to review the existential capability of the body from Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenology to explore ways of promoting human rights in physical restraint. (2) Methods: A philosophical reflection was contemplated regarding notions of the body’s phenomenology. (3) Results: Merleau-Ponty’s body phenomenology can explain bodily phenomena as a source of the personal subject, who perceives and acts in the world, and not as a body alienated from the subject in health and illness. Patients, when they are physically restrained, cannot be the self as a subject because their body loses its subjecthood. They are entirely objectified, becoming objects of diagnosis, protection, and control, according to the treatment principles of health care professionals. (4) Conclusions: The foundation of human rights, human being’s dignity lies in the health professionals’ genuine understanding and response to the existential crisis of the patient’s body in relation to its surrounding environment.

The sequelae of embodied trauma – Latest movie release as sensorimotor psychotherapy treatment metaphor

In recent years there is a growing number of trauma practitioners, from different modalities, who have increasingly come to recognize, understand and orient their treatment strategies and interventions further towards the physical and physiological manifestations of their clients’ traumatic experience. In this paper the authors utilize the words ‘movie sequence’ as metaphor throughout to specifically illustrate the sequential unfolding of physiological traumatic activation in the body. This becomes interrupted, stuck, like a bad movie scene at the point of overwhelm in memory. This truncation results in the repetitive hyper- or hypo-arousal state of nervous system dysregulation, with their multitude of distressing symptoms re-occurring in response to triggering stimuli in the present. Focusing this discussion paper around the movie sequence analogy enables the authors to weave together key concepts of how the body gets interrupted in trauma, but also manages unpalatable experience through dissociation analogous to movie censorship. Sequencing can ultimately resolve trauma with treatment interventions, focused to move bodily activation through to completion, with phrase ‘latest movie release’ used to portray restoring of nervous system equilibrium. To demonstrate the theme of sequential unfolding, the authors make use of three different clinical examples, using sensorimotor sequencing interventions to illustrate aspects of what may commonly occur for individual clients, despite their differences and their unique traumatic experiences. The intended result is to stimulate further integration of clinical insights, for a range of therapists, when thinking into the unique presentation of bodily phenomena for each of their own clients, in relation to their problematic memories. This will likely lead to greater awareness, new resources, refinement of skills, and better precision when choosing from available interventions.

Abnormal Bodily Phenomena in First Episode Psychosis: A Preliminary Exploratory Cohort Study

Schizophrenia patients frequently display an array of abnormal bodily phenomena (ABPs). There is literature to suggest that the presence of ABPs may be representative of a fundamental disruption of the embodied and prereflexive state of selfhood and hence be relevant for the development of schizophrenia spectrum disorders. ABPs have been considered as trait features of vulnerability to psychosis and may have value as potential markers for early detection, target symptoms for prevention and predictors of clinical outcomes. This longitudinal cohort study aimed to explore: (1) the prevalence of ABPs in first episode psychosis, (2) their longitudinal stability, (3) how ABPs compare with data from patients with enduring psychosis, and (4) how aspects of disorders of self-experience (DSEs) and ABPs and the corresponding instruments relate to each other. Sixteen patients were recruited from an early intervention in psychosis service. They were assessed with a series of structured and semi-structured interviews at point of entry, after 6 months and 12 months of follow-up. A variety of ABPs and DSEs were displayed in all study subjects, associated with high levels of core psychotic symptoms and reduced with treatment over time. Compared with findings of both acute and chronic schizophrenia patients, the prevalence of ABPs seems to be representative of severity and acuteness of the illness. Two factors were identified with stable trait characteristics and might be of predictive value for the course of the illness. Further studies with bigger samples are needed to further test the value of ABPs as early markers of detection and predictors of clinical course. The association between DSEs and ABPs warrants further investigation.

Revisiting Significant Action and Gesture Categorization

As the field of gesture studies has developed researchers have created ways of analyzing and categorizing bodily movement phenomena. In this paper we look at whether gesture categorisations have any resonance with the ways that people other than gesture researchers approach bodily movement. Building on Kendon’s (1978) observations that people generally have a consistent attitude towards what constitutes ‘significant action’ we asked 12 participants to conceptualize their own categories of gesture and then analyze a short video that contained a pre-determined variety of bodily movements. We found that non-analysts had a wider conception of what constituted gesture than analysts. In regards to the categorisations of gesture that non-analysts made, there were a range of schemas, which we broadly categorised as being ‘form- based’ and ‘function based’.

Abnormal bodily experiences detected by Abnormal Bodily Phenomena questionnaire are more frequent and severe in schizophrenia than in bipolar disorder with psychotic features.

Patients with schizophrenia display experiential anomalies in their feelings and cognitions arising in the domain of their lived body. These abnormal bodily phenomena (ABP) are not part of diagnostic criteria for schizophrenia. One of the reasons is the difficulty to assess specific ABP for schizophrenia spectrum disorders. The present study aimed to explore the presence in patients with schizophrenia of specific ABP. We used a semistructured interview-the Abnormal Bodily Phenomena questionnaire (ABPq), an instrument devised to detect and measure ABP specific to patients with schizophrenia. Fifty-one outpatients affected by schizophrenia and 28 euthymic outpatients affected by bipolar disorder type I with psychotic features (BD-pf-e) were recruited. Before assessing the specificity for schizophrenia of the observed ABP, we tested the internal consistency and the convergent validity of the ABPq in patients with schizophrenia. Specificity was assessed by examining potential differences in ABPq among the patients with schizophrenia in remission (SCZ-r) and BD-pf-e. The ABPq shows strong internal consistency and convergent validity. As to the specificity, ABP measured by ABPq were more frequent and severe in SCZ-r than in BD-pf-e. In particular, all ABPq dimensions, except "Coherence," had at least mild severity in over 50% of SCZ-r, while dimensions with at least mild severity were observed in 5-10% of the BD-pf-e. These findings can contribute to establish more precise phenomenal boundaries between schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, to explore the borders between nonpsychotic and psychotic forms of ABP, between ABP and negative and disorganized symptoms, and to enlighten core aspects of schizophrenia.

La naturaleza hermenéutica de la experiencia corporal y del fenómeno del dolor según Heidegger

Este artículo propone una discusión sobre la naturaleza hermenéutica de la corporalidad (Leiblichkeit). Un aspecto que resultará decisivo para descifrar fenómenos corporales como el dolor y que hará comprensible la tesis del filósofo de que para lograr un acceso al fenómeno del dolor es preciso tener en cuenta lo que denomina aspectos existenciales del fenómeno del cuerpo (Leibphänomen). Para ello, este trabajo mostrará, por una parte, en qué sentido el ser corporal(leiblich sein) de lo humano es un fenómeno cooriginario de las otras estructuras existenciales que integran su ser-en-el-mundo (In-der-Welt-sein) y, por otra, el carácter afectivo de dicha constitución existencial o mundana de la experiencia corporal. Una perspectiva hermenéutica que contribuirá asimismo a entender el carácter extático y disruptivo del dolor.

Validation of the Italian version of the “abnormal bodily phenomena questionnaire” in a sample of patients with schizophrenia: Preliminary data

IntroductionThe abnormal bodily phenomena questionnaire (ABPq) originates from the analysis of clinical files of more than 350 patients with schizophrenia. It consists in a semi-structured interview created to evaluate the subjective anomalies in feelings, sensations, perceptions and cognition in the domain of the lived body.ObjectivesThe present study is aimed at providing preliminary data for the validation of the Italian version of the ABPq.MethodsThe ABPq was translated and adapted into Italian. ABPq scores were correlated to those obtained by the schizophrenia proneness instrument, Adult version–body perception disturbances (SPI-A E, body) that evaluates the same kind of phenomena, in order to examine its convergent validity. Moreover, ABPq was correlated to psychopathological domains assessed by the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) and by the Brief Negative Symptom Scale (BNSS).ResultsThe experimental sample included 40 clinically stable patients. Our findings showed a strong correlation between ABPq and SPI-A E, body. An association of ABPq total score with the positive and disorganized dimensions was also observed.ConclusionsOur preliminary data suggest that the Italian version of ABPq has a good convergent validity. The presence of abnormal bodily phenomena resulted to be associated to a greater severity of the disease and therefore it could be hypothesized that they represent an indicator of clinical severity.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Medical and Psychology Student's Experiences in Learning Mindfulness: Benefits, Paradoxes, and Pitfalls.

Mindfulness has attracted increased interest in the field of health professionals’ education due to its proposed double benefit of providing self-help strategies to counter stress and burnout symptoms and cultivating attitudes central to the role of professional helpers. The current study explored the experiential aspects of learning mindfulness. Specifically, we explored how first-year medical and psychology students experienced and conceptualized mindfulness upon completion of a 7-week mindfulness-based stress reduction program. Twenty-two students participated in either two focus group interviews or ten in-depth interviews, and we performed an interpretive phenomenological analysis of the interview transcripts. All students reported increased attention and awareness of psychological and bodily phenomena. The majority also reported a shift in their attitudes towards their experiences in terms of decreased reactivity, increased curiosity, affect tolerance, patience and self-acceptance, and improved relational qualities. The experience of mindfulness was mediated by subjective intention and the interpretation of mindfulness training. The attentional elements of mindfulness were easier to grasp than the attitudinal ones, in particular with respect to the complex and inherently paradoxical elements of non-striving and radical acceptance. Some participants considered mindfulness as a means to more efficient instrumental task-oriented coping, whilst others reported increased sensitivity and tolerance towards their own state of mind. A broader range of program benefits appeared dependent upon embracing the paradoxes and integrating attitudinal elements in practising mindfulness. Ways in which culture and context may influence the experiences in learning mindfulness are discussed along with practical, conceptual, and research implications.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s12671-016-0521-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Differential diagnosis between schizophrenia and in major depression: The importance of abnormal bodily phenomena

IntroductionAnomalies of bodily experience have for long been described as relevant features of schizophrenia and major depression, yet such experiences are usually neglected in clinical examination. Bodily experience is the implicit background of our experiences against which we develop a coherent sense of self as a unified, bounded entity, naturally immersed in a social world of meaningful others. Such tacit experiential background is often perturbed in schizophrenia and major depression. Empirical research shows that patients with schizophrenia and major depression frequently present many different kinds of anomalies of bodily experience in the course of their illness.ObjectiveTo characterize the abnormal bodily phenomena in both schizophrenia and major depression.AimTo improve differential diagnosis based on the identification of typical features of abnormal bodily experiences in persons affected by schizophrenia and major depression and to provide supplementary diagnostic criteria.MethodAnalysis of empirical and theoretical research published in the last 25 years.ResultOngoing bodily feelings of disintegration/violation and nothingness/mechanization (e.g. one's body experienced as a object-like mechanism) are the most typical experiences in people with schizophrenia whereas major depressives are not able to detach themselves from the experience of bodily failure or chrematization (from chrema = corpse, i.e., feeling like a corpse) and therefore, feel worthless, guilty, or decaying. They feel chrematized in their very self.ConclusionThese experiences might be considered as specific and they can contribute to differential diagnosis of somatic complaints in schizophrenia and in major depression.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

An initial investigation of abnormal bodily phenomena in subjects at ultra high risk for psychosis: Their prevalence and clinical implications

BackgroundContemporary phenomenological research has considered abnormal bodily phenomena (ABP) to be a phenotypic trait of subjects with schizophrenia in their first psychotic episode. Yet the prevalence of ABP and their clinical significance in subjects at Ultra High Risk (UHR) of psychosis remain unidentified. This study is an exploratory investigation of ABP in UHR subjects and matched healthy controls (HCs) examining their relation to clinical features and basic self-disturbances. MethodsA sample of 26 UHR and 14 HC subjects from three prodromal and early intervention clinics in South London, West London and Cambridge was assessed with the Abnormal Bodily Phenomena questionnaire (ABPq), Comprehensive Assessment of At-Risk Mental States (CAARMS), the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS), the Social and Occupational Functioning Assessment Scale (SOFAS) and the Examination of Anomalous Self Experiences (EASE) checklist. ResultsIn our sample ABP occurred in 73.1% of UHR subjects and prominent ABP (proABP) were referred in 53.8% of them. No HC subject reported ABP. The UHR group with proABP had lower CAARMS total score (t=−9.265, p=0.006). There were no differences in PANSS total score (t=−1.235, p=0.277), SOFAS score (H(2) 22.27, p=0.666) and EASE total scores (z=8.565, adjusted p=0.185) in the UHR subjects with prominent ABP versus those that did not. DiscussionThis initial investigation suggests that ABP could be a prevalent phenotypic feature of UHR subjects.

Encountering snakes in early Victorian London: The first reptile house at the Zoological Gardens

This paper examines the first reptile house (1849) at the Zoological Gardens in London as a novel site for the production and consumption of knowledge about snakes, stressing the significance of architectural and material limitations on both snakes and humans. Snakes were familiar and ambiguous, present at every level of British society through the reading of Scripture and as recurrent characters in imperial print culture. For all that snakes engendered feelings of disgust as the most distinctive representatives of a lowly class of animals, they exerted an equivalent fascination over diverse publics spanning the social spectrum. Building on work showing a consideration for the multi-sensory nature of visits to menageries, this paper considers animal display beyond the visual. It explores the emotional economy of encountering snakes in person and the bodily phenomena this engendered. Vicarious visits were offered up to readers of periodicals and newspapers and the reptile house was harnessed as a controversial pedagogical resource for teaching moral, as well as scientific, lessons.

The bodily self: A qualitative study of abnormal bodily phenomena in persons with schizophrenia

Subtle anomalies of bodily experience have for long been described as relevant features of schizophrenia spectrum disorders, however such disturbing and alienating experiences are usually neglected in routine clinical examination. The overarching aim of this qualitative study is to offer an experience-close mapping of abnormal bodily phenomena (ABP) in patients with schizophrenia that might assist clinical examination and inform the development of dedicated assessment tools. We followed a stepwise methodology: first, data from n=550 clinical interviews were analyzed adopting consensual qualitative research (CQR) inductive method in order to identify relevant clusters of ABP. Then, ABP profiled in schizophrenia patients (n=301) were contrasted with ABP identified in patients affected by major depression (n=56). 70% of the interviewees in the schizophrenia sample reported anomalies of lived corporeality, that could be condensed in the following categories: Dynamization, Morbid objectivation, Dysmorphic–like phenomena and Pain-like phenomena. Those appeared to be reducible to two core features that were not paralleled in the affective disorder sample: dynamization (e.g. ongoing bodily feelings of disintegration/violation) and thingness/mechanization (e.g. one’s body experienced as a object-like mechanism). We suggest that dynamization and thingness/mechanization might be considered schizophrenia-specific experiential phenotypes that can contribute to early differential diagnosis of somatic complaints in mental health help-seekers.

Revisiting Significant Action and Gesture Categorization

As the field of gesture studies has developed researchers have created ways of analysing and categorizing bodily movement phenomena. In this paper we look at whether gesture categorizations have any resonance with the ways that people other than gesture researchers approach bodily movement. Building on Kendon's observations that people generally have a consistent attitude towards what constitutes ‘significant action’, we asked 12 participants to conceptualize their own categories of gesture and then analyse a short video that contained a predetermined variety of bodily movements. We found that non-analysts had a wider conception of what constituted gesture than analysts. In regards to the categorizations of gesture that non-analysts made, there were a range of schemas, which we broadly categorized as being ‘form-based’ and ‘function-based’.

Bodies Moving and Being Moved: Mapping affect in Christian Nold'sBio Mapping

In A History of Spaces (2004), John Pickles observes that one of the less well-known representational norms of mapping is its focus on ‘natural and physical objects rather than developing universal conventions dealing with symbol, affect and movement.’ New media artist Christian Nold's work has dealt explicitly with two of these cartographic blindspots, grafting new and old technologies that both, in different ways, create bodily traces – the GPS trace of movement and the GSR (galvanic skin response) trace of arousal, often taken as an index of emotional response. Although Nold's socially engaged practice can be placed within the ‘locative media’ genre it also taps into the technological imaginaries around physiological sensors and intimate data. This paper considers Nold's Bio Mapping (2004-) projects in the context of his longstanding concern with social collectives and public space as a field of social relations. Looking at particular maps from Nold's Bio Mapping project, it considers the implications of blending the traces of the body's internal states with the traces produced by locomotive movement, and the relationship between the individuals thus traced and the collectives that Nold seeks to represent. Concurrent with Nold's practice there has been a wave of interest in affect and emotion (and the distinction between them) within the humanities. This paper brings Nold's work into contact with the Deleuzian/Spinozan concept of affect employed in one strand of this writing, drawing in particular on the work of Brian Massumi. Rather than using theory to simply illustrate Nold's practice, it follows the implications of Deleuze's cartographic model of individuation, the logic of which ultimately problematises the very distinction between the two bodily phenomena traced by Nold's device.