Abnormal self-experiences are common in major depression but are not included in current diagnostic manuals, which limits understanding and treatment. Through qualitative interviews analyzed with the Consensual Qualitative Research method, three categories of abnormal self-experience emerged: an inability to project oneself forward, not recognizing one's self, and losing control over one's self. The core of depressive experience appears to be an inability to recognize otherness as part of oneself, leading to specific symptoms of depersonalization that differ from those in schizophrenia. Narrative identity is central to the development and maintenance of depression.
LSD, when used under therapeutic guidance, enhanced the filmmaking creativity of Federico Fellini by altering his perception of time, space, body, and self. Time in his films flows irregularly with disorienting flashbacks; colors become supernaturally brilliant and detached from objects; sounds emerge independently from visible sources; and human bodies appear deformed, grotesque, and caricatural. The boundaries between dream and reality collapse. These changes made his films so distinctive that the adjective 'felliniesque' was coined.