Disembodied Spirits and Deanimated Bodies

The Psychopathology of Common Sense

Giovanni Stanghellini

International Perspectives in Philosophy and Psychiatry

How can we better understand and treat those suffering from schizophrenia and manic-depressive illnesses? This important new book takes us into the world of those suffering from such disorders. Using self-descriptions, its emphasis is not on how mental health professional view sufferers, but on how the patients themselves experience their disorder. A new volume in the International Perspectives in Philosophy and Psychiatry series, this book with be of great interest to all those working with sufferers from such disorders - helping them to better understand their mental lives, and providing important insights into how to best treat them.

Disembodied Spirits and Deanimated Bodies

The Psychopathology of Common Sense

Giovanni Stanghellini

International Perspectives in Philosophy and Psychiatry

Description

How can we better understand and treat those suffering from schizophrenia and manic-depressive illnesses? This important new book takes us into the world of those suffering from such disorders. Using self-descriptions, its emphasis is not on how mental health professional's view sufferers, but on how the patients themselves experience their disorder. Central to the book is the idea that schizophrenic persons live like disembodies spirits or deanimated bodies. As disembodies spirits, they feel like abstract entities that contemplate their own existence and the world from outside. As deanimated bodies, schizophrenic people feel deprived of the possibility of living personal experiences - perceptions, thoughts, emotions - as their own. A new volume in the International Perspectives in Philosophy and Psychiatry series, this book will be of great interest to all those working with sufferers from such disorders - helping them to better understand their mental lives and providing important insights into how best to treat them.

Disembodied Spirits and Deanimated Bodies

The Psychopathology of Common Sense

Giovanni Stanghellini

International Perspectives in Philosophy and Psychiatry

Prologue - the tattooed room
1. The genealogy of psychopathology
2. The origins of the psychopathology of the social being
3. The ascetic misunderstanding and social phenomenology
4. Aporias of intersubjectivity
5. The social world of melancholic and schizophrenic persons
6. The senses of common sense
7. The internal statue
8. Cyborgs and scanners
9. Voices and consciousness
10. This is not a delusion
Epilogue

Disembodied Spirits and Deanimated Bodies

The Psychopathology of Common Sense

Giovanni Stanghellini

International Perspectives in Philosophy and Psychiatry

Reviews and Awards

"All mental health professionals are likely to gain, both clinically and intellectually, from reading this book, and carers, patients, and philosophers will find much to help them engage with the potentially disorienting and frightening reality of psychosis." --Mental Health Today

"This book represents a contribution to what might be considered a renaissance of philosophically informed approaches to clinical psychiatry." --Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease