Rethinking and destigmatising schizophrenia
Context
Most people will never doubt or question whether their self truly exists, or whether the world they live in is actually real. For individuals with schizophrenia, maintaining this sense of coherence is a daily struggle.
The ideas about a disturbed or disrupted sense of self are not new to psychiatry, but have been largely overshadowed by rigid and almost tick-box-like diagnostic criteria that have an overreliance on fully formed psychotic symptoms such as delusions and hallucinations.
I aim to help revive the phenomenological tradition in modern psychiatric theory and practice by focusing on subjectivity and selfhood in schizophrenia.
The research
My research actively challenges the status quo by questioning whether the diagnostic criteria for delusions and hallucinations truly reflect patients’ experience.
Current definitions conceptualise delusions and hallucinations as separate cognitive and perceptual phenomena, respectively; however, with tangible evidence from both neuroscience and phenomenology, and a strong PPI component, my research has shown that traditional definitions of delusions and hallucinations may not be fit for purpose.
Clinicians are urged to instead focus more on alterations in self-experience when making a diagnosis of schizophrenia.
Featured publications
Funding
- National Institute for Health and Care Research
- Medical Research Council
- Impact Acceleration Award