Crisis of objectivity: using a personalized network model to understand maladaptive sensemaking in a patient with psychotic, affective, and obsessive-compulsive symptoms.
Frontiers in psychology January 1, 2024 Aleš Oblak, Matic Kuclar, Katja Horvat Golob et al. 1 citation
A detailed case study of a patient with multiple psychiatric comorbidities, maladaptive coping mechanisms, and adverse childhood experiences followed for two years. Using phenomenological interviews, neuropsychological assessments, language analysis, and semi-structured interviews, a personalized network model of the patient's lifeworld was constructed. The core psychopathological theme identified was 'the crisis of objectivity'—a persistent mistrust of any information appraised as originating in his subjectivity, developmentally traceable to adverse childhood experiences and a psychotic episode. Correspondence was found between subjective reports and other data sources. Social sensorimotor, positive valence, and negative valence system dysfunctions likely relate to a primary deficit from childhood adversity, while cognitive symptoms may be tied to maladaptive coping mechanisms or the primary disorder.