Minimal Self Disorders in Schizophrenia

Abstract

In recent years we have witnessed a rebirth of interest in the field of subjectivity and its disorders, particularly the severity and quality of non-psychotic abnormal subjective experience. Contemporary research on abnormal subjective experiences in schizophrenia has used several different theoretical frameworks. The most common of these is the phenomenological approach. A prominent example of the phenomenological approach is the minimal self disorder model. In this article, we will discuss, prominent theories on the concept of 'self ', historical background of the minimal self disorder model in schizophrenia and the current approach to this model. According to this model, self disorders have been hypothesized to be an underlying and trait-like core feature of schizophrenia. The model suggests that this minimal self is disturbed in three ways in people with schizophrenia: hyperreflexivity, diminished self-affection (diminished self-presence) and disturbed grip or hold on the cognitive-perceptual world. Hyperreflexivity is defined as the excessive attention to processes that would ordinarily be implicitly experienced. Diminished self-affection (diminished self-presence) refers to an experience of a loss of self-agency. Disturbed grip or hold on the cognitive-perceptual world refers to the disturbances of spatio-temporal structuring of the experiential field. These three aspects are intimately interlinked, and should be understood more as the components of a single entity. Finally, clinical symptoms that may indicate minimal self disorder and the abnormal self experiences of two patients with a diagnosis of schizophrenia are discussed. Keywords: Schizophrenia, phenomenology, self-disorders, hyperreflexivity, diminished self-affection.