Schizophrenia and the experience of intersubjectivity as threat

Authors: Lysaker, Paul; Johannesen, Jason; Lysaker, John

Source: Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences, Volume 4, Number 3, December 2005 , pp. 335-352(18)

Publisher: Springer

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Abstract:

Many with schizophrenia find social interactions a profound and terrifying threat to their sense of self. To better understand this we draw upon dialogical models of the self that suggest that those with schizophrenia have difficulty sustaining dialogues among diverse aspects of self. Because interpersonal exchanges solicit and evoke movement among diverse aspects of self, many with schizophrenia may consequently find those exchanges overwhelming, resulting in despair, the sensation of fusion with another, and/or self-dissolution. In short, compromised dialogical capacities may be a contributing factor to social dysfunction in schizophrenia.

Keywords: schizophrenia; psychosis; self; dialogue; interpersonal behavior; narrative

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11097-005-4067-1

Affiliations: 1: Email: plysaker@iupui.edu

Publication date: 2005-12-01