The long-standing tradition of phenomenological psychopathology has been historically concerned with the nature of mental disorders, with a special focus on their basic experiential core. In the same way, much of the recent phenomenologically-inspired work in psychopathology consists in providing precise and refined tools for diagnosis, classification, and nosology of mental disorders. What is striking, however, is the lack of therapeutic proposals in this tradition. Although a number of phenomenological approaches refer positively to psychotherapeutic practices, psychopharmacological intervention has been mostly (...) neglected as a relevant field of attention. This work aims to fill this gap. We maintain that the convergence of phenomenological psychopathology and psychopharmacology exhibit a rich potential for mutual enlightenment, which unfolds into a more adequate psychopharmacological practice. Initially, after discussing Joanna Moncrieff’s drug-centered model of drug action we review some of the major findings in phenomenological literature regarding psychopharmacological treatment. Next, we suggest that Moncrieff’s drug-centered model can be seen as an important tool for improving clinical decision-making, by elucidating its inherent epistemic advantage when compared to mainstream models of drug action. As a result, the drug-centered model proves to be also patient-centered, by focusing on experiential alterations and helping to improve treatment outcomes. (shrink)

But never let it be doubted that depression, in its extreme form, is madness. (Styron, 1990, p. 62)There is nothing wrong with our biology or our intelligence; sometimes we are just stuck. (Cvetkov...

O objetivo geral deste trabalho é abordar a tese pessimista encontrada na filosofia de Arthur Schopenhauer a partir da noção de postura. Nesta abordagem exponho os traços característicos de sua metafísica da Vontade e a implicação para a avaliação deste mundo como o “pior dos mundos possíveis”. Em seguida pretendo abordar a ligação entre filosofia e temperamento, a partir de alguns vieses identificados em alterações afetivas, bem como avaliar como ocorre essa ligação na filosofia pessimista de Schopenhauer. Após essa análise (...) será possível avaliar o pessimismo schopenhaueriano a partir da tese metafilosófica de que o temperamento é parte constitutiva de posturas filosóficas, as quais devem ser levadas em consideração na análise do alcance de teses filosóficas gerais. (shrink)

Apresento neste trabalho as linhas gerais dos desenvolvimentos metodológicos operados na fenomenologia contemporânea a partir do crescente processo de naturalização. Naturalizar a fenomenologia corresponde à interação de descrições fenomenológicas tradicionais com as descrições oriundas das ciências naturais. Em um primeiro momento apresento as variações metodológicas derivadas dessa interação e os resultados já consolidados na literatura. Posteriormente caracterizo de maneira mais precisa o projeto da neurofenomenologia e apresento algumas contribuições relativas ao estudo da afetividade tendo como pano de fundo a compreensão (...) desse fenômeno em termos enativistas. Chamo atenção, em particular, para um tipo de fenômeno afetivo específico, os sentimentos corporais de tipo existencial. Será possível, assim, apresentar uma avaliação de ordem metodológica relativa ao modo de acesso e descrição desses fenômenos, assumindo como ponto de partida a ideia neurofenomenológica de restrições mútuas entre os níveis de descrição. (shrink)

The concept of bodily doubt has been proposed as a model for describing the experience of illness. According to this model, bodily doubt determines any experience of illness, whether somatic or mental. However, the phenomenology of mental disorders presents a series of experiential disturbances beyond doubt at the bodily level. The hypothesis to be investigated in this article concerns the formulation of an adequate concept of doubt from the point of view of these disorders. Often, psychiatric patients experience their condition (...) of suffering primarily in terms of a doubt about the totality of their experiences, and not just in relation to the bodily aspect. On the other hand, cognitive, affective and behavioural elements also play a fundamental role in determining mental disorders. In order to identify the peculiarities of the notion of doubt in this context, this paper sets out to reconstruct and analyze the phenomenological literature on somatic and mental illness, as well as non-reductionist approaches to cognition (4EA) and its disorders. (shrink)