Intersubjectivity and the Schizophrenic Experience: A Hermeneutic Phenomenoiogicai Exploration

Abstract

The motivation for this article grew out of work done by Lysaker, Johannesen, and Lysaker (2005), which explores the experience of being as a person with schizophrenia in relation to other individuals, and shows schizophrenic intersubjectivity as a potentially horrifying and disintegrating experience. The article, through a phenomenologically informed case study, aims to narrate the subtleties of the intersubjective experience, as disclosed in the lived world of a person with schizophrenia. How does such an individual experience self in relation to other? The phenomenoiogical hermeneutic method, as shaped by such theorists as Gadamer (1976, 1989), Heidegger (1962), and Buber 1957, 1970, 1992), is the interpretive platform upon which this article is staged. The case study is presented in terms of the theory of the dialogical self, and reflects the sense of isolation, intolerance of ambiguity, caution in dialogue, diminished sense of self-worth, and lack of reciprocity experienced by the individual with schizophrenia.