Related Experiment Video
Updated: Apr 12, 2026

Enactive Phenomenological Approach to the Trier Social Stress Test: A Mixed Methods Point of View
Published on: January 7, 2019
The current dialogue between phenomenology and psychiatry: a problematic misunderstanding
1Center of Interdisciplinary Researches in Human and Social Sciences (CRISES, EA 4424), Paul-Valéry University, Rue du Professeur Henri Serre, 34090, Montpellier, France. camille.abettan@gmail.com.
Abstract:
A revival of the dialogue between phenomenology and psychiatry currently takes place in the best international journals of psychiatry. In this article, we analyse this revival and the role given to phenomenology in this context. Although this dialogue seems at first sight interesting, we show that it is problematic. It leads indeed to use phenomenology in a special way, transforming it into a discipline dealing with empirical facts, so that what is called "phenomenology" has finally nothing to do with phenomenology. This so-called phenomenology tallies however with what we have always called semiology. We try to explain the reasons why phenomenology is misused in that way. In our view, this transformation of phenomenology into an empirical and objectifying discipline is explained by the role attributed to phenomenology by contemporary authors, which is to solve the problems raised by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
Psychodynamic Therapy
Structuralism
Titchener's approach to structuralism was unique. He...
Gestalt Psychology
The Scientific Method
Defining Psychology
Theoretical Approaches to Psychological Disorder
Biological approach
The biological approach posits that internal, organic factors are the primary causes of such disorders. This perspective emphasizes brain structure and function, genetic predispositions, and neurotransmitter imbalances. For example, schizophrenia has been associated with both genetic...

