Phenomenological/descriptive psychiatry
the methods of Edmund Husserl and Karl Jaspers
pp. 46-69
in: Manfred Spitzer, Michael A. Schwartz, Michael A. Schwartz (eds), Phenomenology, language & schizophrenia, Berlin, Springer, 1992Abstract
While there can be no doubt that philosophy and psychiatry are different fields of inquiry, there can also exist little doubt that there is a growing interest in philosophical issues in psychiatry,1 How are these two fields related? How are we to appreciate both their differences and their common ground? What can psychiatry expect from philosophy, and vice versa? In this paper we will focus on phenomenology, which for several reasons remains at the heart of the questions just posed. We will do so by addressing the similarities and differences of the meaning of the term "phenomenology" as used in psychiatry and philosophy. Our focus on phenomenology should not obscure, however, our firm conviction that psychiatry must employ a variety of methods, concepts, and theories in order to illuminate and treat mental disorders.
