180165 SE Phenomenology and Psychiatry (2015S)

Dialogue between phenomenology and psychiatry has a long history, dating back to Karl Jaspers’ 1912 appropriation of themes in Edmund Husserl’s work. This course will explore the historical and ongoing relationship between phenomenology and psychiatry, in order to convey an understanding of the ways in which it facilitates mutual illumination. In the process, we will engage with the writings of historically important thinkers including Karl Jaspers, Wolfgang Blankenburg, Eugene Minkowski, Ludwig Binswanger, J. H. van den Berg and R. D. Laing. Some of the seminars will focus on kinds of experience associated with specific psychiatric diagnoses, such as schizophrenia, major depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder, and/or with specific symptoms, such as hallucinations and delusions. Other seminars will address broader themes, such as bodily experience, interpersonal relations, and the sense of time in psychiatric illness. Throughout the course, there will be an emphasis on how one can do phenomenology and make original phenomenological discoveries by studying experiences of psychiatric illness.