Abnormal (disturbed) self-experiences in schizophrenia spectrum disorders: the qualitative aspect

Area of Science:

• Psychopathology
• Phenomenology
• Neuroscience

Background:

• Growing interest in the self and its alterations from a phenomenological perspective.
• Limited Spanish-language publications on psychopathology and schizophrenia.
• Need for a review of basic self concept and its disturbances in schizophrenia.

Purpose of the Study:

• To provide a narrative review of the basic self concept.
• To examine qualitative aspects of basic self alterations in schizophrenia spectrum disorders and prodrome.

Main Methods:

• Narrative review of existing literature.
• Focus on phenomenological and qualitative aspects of self experience.

Main Results:

• The basic self is an implicit sense of self-presence, prereflective and fundamental to experience.
• Alterations in the basic self are central phenotypic features of schizophrenia spectrum disorders.
• These alterations involve distortions in the first-person perspective and sense of agency.

Conclusions:

• The basic self is a universal, prereflective sense of being.
• Self-anomalous experiences are core to schizophrenia spectrum disorders.
• Further research into these disturbances is crucial for understanding psychosis.