Frontiers in psychology
January 1, 2024
Anya Daly, Rosa Ritunnano, Shaun Gallagher et al.
17 citations
Mental disorders involve complex alterations of the self that arise from interactions among cognitive, bodily, affective, social, narrative, cultural, and normative elements. The pattern theory of self (PTS) provides a non-reductive account consistent with embodied-enactive cognition and phenomenological psychopathology, emphasizing the multi-dimensionality of subjects and situated embodiment. This article develops the Examination of Self Patterns (ESP), a flexible methodological framework that front-loads the self-pattern into a minimally structured phenomenological interview. The ESP avoids internalist or externalist assumptions about mind and is guided by person-specific interpretations rather than diagnostic categories, offering advantages for tackling the complexity of mental health research and clinical protocols.
The lancet. Psychiatry
February 1, 2026
Rosa Ritunnano, Jeannette Littlemore, Barnaby Nelson et al.
8 citations
Delusions in first-episode psychosis are not isolated symptoms but emerge from a global shift in how a person experiences self and world, shaped by early negative emotions like shame. In a qualitative study of ten adults, persecutory, reference, and grandiose or religious themes were common and overlapping. Narrative interviews revealed that recurrent shame, anger, and fear, along with efforts to avoid or immerse in these emotions, preceded delusions. Three emotional transformation patterns were identified: from embodied shame to invincibility, from meaninglessness to love and hope, and feeling cut off in a simulation. Delusions reflect an embodied, temporal process where bodily experiences link to extreme appraisals, such as being a bad person or connected to God. Interventions should target the lived body and social environments for emotional regulation.
Wiley interdisciplinary reviews. Cognitive science
January 1, 2026
Florestan Delcourt, Henry R Cowan, Jordan Sibéoni et al.
Disturbances of the self in schizophrenia are often described at two levels: a pre-reflective, minimal sense of self and a reflective, narrative self. This integrative review examines how these two levels may be linked. Three theoretical models are presented: the Structural model, which suggests minimal self-disorders hierarchically cause narrative disturbances and the schizophrenia phenotype; the Dialectical model, which emphasizes reciprocal interactions between the two levels with both pathogenic and salutogenic effects; and the Contextual model, which considers social, territorial, and biological dimensions. Empirical studies directly testing these links are scarce and preliminary. The literature suggests promising directions for future research and clinical applications.