Obsessive-compulsive existential type: a dialectical-phenomenological approach

Area of Science:

• Phenomenological Psychopathology
• Existential Psychology
• Clinical Psychology

Background:

• Current biological and cognitive paradigms for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) face criticism for methodological limitations and theoretical biases.
• Existing psychopathological studies offer a foundation for exploring the anthropological dimensions of obsessive-compulsive conditions.
• Classical phenomenological work highlights a negative transformation in the obsessive-compulsive life-world, termed the 'anti-eidos'.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose a complementary approach to understanding obsessive-compulsive disorder by developing a dialectical phenomenological framework.
• To introduce and define the
• obsessive-compulsive existential type
• as a novel conceptualization.
• To analyze the existential dialectic between 'anti-eidos' (diluting force) and 'eidos' (unifying force) in this condition.

Main Methods:

• Drawing on and extending classical phenomenological research on obsessions.
• Developing the concept of 'anti-eidos' and its dialectical relationship with 'eidos'.
• Analyzing anthropological disproportions and structural imbalances in the obsessive-compulsive existential type.

Main Results:

• The 'obsessive-compulsive existential type' is characterized by the supremacy of 'anti-eidos' over 'eidos', leading to structural imbalances.
• These imbalances manifest as polymorphic temporality, weakened intentionality, altered self-world distance, a besieged self, and tense embodiment.
• Compensatory hyperreflexivity and rituals are analyzed as structural counterbalancing mechanisms.

Conclusions:

• Heterogeneous clinical manifestations of OCD result from primary structural alterations and subsequent phenomenological compensations.
• The proposed framework offers a new perspective on the variability and complexity of obsessive-compulsive presentations.
• This approach may inform future scientific research and therapeutic interventions for obsessive-compulsive conditions.