Positioning of This Work in the Development of Phenomenological Psychopathology

The validity of the triad subjectivity, frame, perspective is in principle not unique to the specific field of schizophrenia. Since the correlation between these three terms corresponds to a general principle, it could be used in other areas of psychopathology as well. An elementary as well as clear example is depression. This mental disorder, which belongs to the affective disorders, reveals a weakening of the ego, i.e., of stable and powerful subjectivity on the one hand and a more or less accentuated absence of perspective and frame on the other hand. According to this interpretation, the classical symptoms of depression could be interpreted from a new perspective: decreased self-esteem; feelings of insufficiency, of guilt, and of inferiority; avolition; and increased fatigue are symptoms or impairments of subjectivity; suicidal thoughts or actions, hopelessness, and a negative and pessimistic perspective on the future are to be understood as lack of perspective and meaninglessness of life; helplessness and loss of relating are to be understood as framelessness. The frame plays an inclusive function as it frames different elements together: The social and relational frame is almost absent in depression as individuals with depression tend to self-isolate and withdraw. The powerful subjectivity of the healthy person, which sets an inclusive social frame, seems to be impaired to a high degree in depression.