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Schizophrenia and the estranged self
Citation
Fernandez, J and Bliss, S, Schizophrenia and the estranged self, Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice (Online), 22, (4) pp. 615-621. ISSN 1365-2753 (2016) [Refereed Article]
Copyright Statement
© 2016 John Wiley & Sons
Abstract
How does schizophrenia affect a subject’s sense of self? In this paper, we discuss the
experience of alienation of mental states and actions that can take place in schizophrenia.
We begin by highlighting this experience in delusions of thought insertion and delusions
of made feelings, impulses and actions. Next, we offer a proposal about the nature of this
experience by utilizing some of the current philosophical research on self-knowledge. The
proposal is that the experience of thoughts, feelings, impulses and actions as not being one’s
own is the experience of regarding those states as not being responsive to reasons. Then, we
put forward a hypothesis about why schizophrenia can lead to this experience by drawing on
the psychiatric literature on the disorder. The hypothesis is that subjects who suffer the four
delusions are unable to regard some of their thoughts, feelings, impulses and actions as being
responsive to reasons because they suffer from a tendency to focus their attention on
their own perceptual experiences, as opposed to focusing it on the world. The lesson to draw
from the alienation of mental states and actions caused by schizophrenia will be, finally, that
two separate components normally make up our sense of self; two components that turn out
to be dissociated in the four schizophrenic delusions discussed. These are, on the one hand,
the self as the bearer, or host, of mental states and actions and, on the other hand, the self as
the owner and agent, respectively, of those mental states and actions.
Item Details
| Item Type: | Refereed Article |
|---|---|
| Keywords: | alienation, delusions, schizophrenia, self, self-knowledge, thought insertion |
| Research Division: | Philosophy and Religious Studies |
| Research Group: | Philosophy |
| Research Field: | Philosophy of Mind (excl. Cognition) |
| Objective Division: | Expanding Knowledge |
| Objective Group: | Expanding Knowledge |
| Objective Field: | Expanding Knowledge in Philosophy and Religious Studies |
| Author: | Bliss, S (Dr Suzy Bliss) |
| ID Code: | 113970 |
| Year Published: | 2016 |
| Web of Science® Times Cited: | 2 |
| Deposited By: | Humanities |
| Deposited On: | 2017-01-31 |
| Last Modified: | 2017-05-17 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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