Understanding Psychosis: Integrating Phenomenology and Descriptive Psychopathology
Preprints.org June 20, 2025 Lida‐alkisti Xenaki, Nikos C. Stefanis preprint
Psychosis involves a profound disruption in how a person experiences themselves and the world, marked by symptoms such as loss of reality testing. Standard psychiatric approaches often rely on descriptive psychopathology, which can miss the rich subjective experiences of those affected. This paper proposes an integrative framework that combines phenomenology—the study of first-person conscious experience—with descriptive clinical categorization. By examining disturbances in basic selfhood and perception of the outer world, the authors aim to bridge standardized evaluation with personal narrative. They describe psychotic features transdiagnostically, viewing psychosis as a dynamic disruption in experiential frameworks from early stages. Incorporating empathic, intersubjective communication into psychiatric interviews supports person-centered care and may improve early intervention, therapeutic alliances, and treatment strategies.