Psychopathology
January 1, 2026
Tatiana Baxter, Sohee Park
1 citation
Felt presence—the sensation that someone else is nearby despite no evidence—is linked to psychosis risk in the general population. An online survey of 376 adults found that felt presence and anxiety together predicted elevated psychosis risk. People at high risk reported more frequent, distressing, vivid, and multisensory felt-presence experiences. Distress during the experience predicted psychosis risk even after accounting for anxiety and other factors. Cumulative trauma was tied to more frequent and vivid felt-presence episodes and to knowing the identity of the sensed entity. Depression, anxiety, and stress were associated with stronger physical sensations and distress during the experience. Resilience unexpectedly correlated with more frequent and vivid felt presence. The findings suggest that qualities of felt presence may serve as markers of psychosis risk distinct from other psychosocial factors.
Psychopathology
January 1, 2026
Bettina Magnolia Löfs, Andreas Rosén Rasmussen
1 citation
Most people with schizophrenia who hear or see things that others do not describe these experiences as being like ordinary perception, and they often occur alongside a disturbed sense of self. In interviews with twenty patients, auditory and visual hallucinations were linked to alterations in the structure of sensory experience, such as changes in spatiality, and were felt to be private rather than publicly accessible. Compared to a control group, those with hallucinations had higher levels of basic self-disorders, earlier onset of mental health problems, and lower IQ. The findings suggest that hallucinations in schizophrenia may stem from a fundamental disturbance in the sense of self, and that visual hallucinations may also be related to this disturbance.
Psychopathology
August 18, 2025
Evan J Kyzar, George H Denfield, Jasper Feyaerts et al.
1 citation
Integrating methods from phenomenology can strengthen the application of dynamical systems theory (DST) in psychopathology research. Phenomenological psychopathology improves DST-based investigations by specifying core symptoms more precisely through a focus on subjective experiences and by deepening theoretical understanding of how symptoms evolve in severity over time. Using clinical high risk for psychosis as a test case, the article demonstrates the utility of combining phenomenologically informed theory and DST, examining the ipseity-disturbance model of psychosis development. The authors offer a vision for broader integration of DST and phenomenological research methods to better understand and predict psychiatric disorders and transitions in mental health states.
Psychopathology
January 1, 2024
George H Denfield, Evan J Kyzar
1 citation
Subjective experience is central to mental illness but has been neglected in empirical psychopathology. A framework called the Nested States Model (NSM) describes the dynamic structure of experience as a system of nested states that influence each other across hierarchical layers. The NSM provides a scheme for characterizing patterns of experience in psychopathological processes, aiding clinical practice and research. It advances three aims: centering clinical formulations on subjective experience, organizing findings from clinical-phenomenological research to build broader models, and aligning perspectives on experience with brain dynamics to bridge phenomenological and neurophysiological work.
Psychopathology
January 1, 2024
Daniel Nischk, Rico Gutschmidt
1 citation
Delusions with spiritual, metaphysical, or eschatological elements (SMEDs) resemble mystical experiences in how they alter perceptions of space, time, and unity, and are accompanied by a sense of enlightenment that remains ineffable. Seven participants described SMEDs as sources of ontological insight, mental health issues, inspiration for a new life orientation, or examples of the limits of knowledge. Making sense of these experiences involved an internal dialogue reflecting contradictory positions, and participants often struggled to reconcile the experiences' apparent significance with the dominant illness explanation. Integrating SMEDs into one's life is challenging. A philosophical, non-pathological interpretation of SMED, derived from a novel perspective on mystical experience, may have therapeutic utility.
Psychopathology
May 19, 2026
Barbara Kariž, Mads Gram Henriksen, Borut Škodlar
Visual art therapy structured by phenomenological insights helps people with schizophrenia explore themselves, articulate emotions, and build narrative identity. In a qualitative case study of 15 patients, twelve sessions of this approach fostered self-exploration, new perspectives, hope, interpersonal communication, and changed perceptions of others. Several patients identified personal challenges they could work on, showing the therapy's potential for supporting recovery and individualized care.
Psychopathology
April 27, 2026
Mads Gram Henriksen, Håvard Hovstad, Helena Cobanovic et al.
The Inventory of Psychotic-Like Anomalous Self-Experiences (IPASE), a self-report questionnaire, was compared with the semi-structured clinical interview Examination of Anomalous Self-Experience (EASE) in 41 participants (including patients with psychosis or schizotypal disorder, other mental disorders, and healthy controls). IPASE and EASE total scores were moderately correlated (Spearman's ρ = 0.54), sharing about 29% variance. Qualitative analysis revealed that IPASE item endorsements often reflected ordinary experiences, medication effects, or psychotic symptoms rather than the subtle self-disorders captured by the EASE. The results indicate that IPASE and EASE do not measure the same construct, raising serious doubts about IPASE's validity for assessing self-disorders and emphasizing the need for phenomenological interviewing.
Psychopathology
February 2, 2026
Riccardo Poggioli, Giovanni Stanghellini
A critical expansion of phenomenological psychopathology from the individual to the collective dimension is proposed. To describe collective life and its link to individual psychology, the paper shifts focus from society to culture—a transversal symbolic system extending beyond social groups—and introduces "cultural existentials" (time, space, body, etc.) as a priori conditions of experience. These are integrated into a Dialectical Experiential Matrix (DEM) that frames the patient's experience as a dynamic interplay between individual freedom and cultural influence. An analysis of the convergence between pornographic culture and the homo œconomicus type demonstrates how cultural existentials provide a model for narcissistic vulnerabilities and dysregulations of alterity, offering a diagnostic device for clinicians.
Psychopathology
January 1, 2026
Elisavet Pappa, Nichola Raihani, Vaughan Bell
Delusions often involve strong beliefs about illusory social agents, yet the nature and identity of these agents in delusions have been understudied. An analysis of 205 electronic mental health records found that 83.4% of delusions explicitly referenced illusory social agents. Across 238 instances, 220 distinct agent identities were identified, averaging 1.17 agents per record. Most agents were humans (85.1%), commonly family members (31.0%), followed by acquaintances (17.2%), religious figures (13.2%), unnamed persons (12.8%), professionals (11.8%), and cultural figures (10.9%). Hierarchical clustering revealed two groups: socially proximate and socially distant agents. The findings indicate a social gradient in delusions, with socially closer individuals appearing more frequently. This gradient may be a general feature of delusions, not limited to specific syndromes.
Psychopathology
January 1, 2025
Matteo Ballabio, Giovanni Stanghellini
Adolescents with severe mental health problems that do not clearly fit any single diagnosis often receive labels such as borderline personality disorder, affective disorders, or ADHD based on behavioral symptoms like social withdrawal, aggression, or self-harm. These diagnoses miss the inner experience of suffering. Using a phenomenological approach, this paper presents two case studies of transitional age youth and additional clinical material. Concepts of self-disorders and anomalies of common sense—originally developed to characterize schizophrenia, especially non-delusional forms—are applied to complement standard diagnostic assessments. The authors propose that these constructs help clarify the psychopathological core of severe cases in transitional age youth and offer tentative criteria to distinguish such phenomena from schizophrenia.
Psychopathology
January 1, 2024
Joke C Van Nieuw Amerongen-Meeuse, Arjan W Braam, Gerlise Westerbroek et al.
Religious and spiritual struggles appear in distinct patterns across different psychiatric diagnoses. In a qualitative study of 34 patients in two clinical mental health care institutions, those with depression experienced isolation, guilt, and a lack of positive religious experiences. Patients with anxiety or cluster C disorders showed uncertainty toward God and reluctance to engage religiously. People with psychotic disorders had intense religious experiences but mistrusted health professionals and were reticent to share them. Bipolar patients struggled to interpret their experiences and felt both drawn to and distanced from religion.