THE PRAGMATIC VALUE OF NOTIONS OF DIALECTICS AND ESSENCE IN PHENOMENOLOGICAL PSYCHIATRY AND PSYCHOPATHOLOGY

Abstract

Phenomenological psychopathology is an elaborated form of empirical science that aims to provide the basis for pragmatic therapeutic objectives, without failing to consider intimate links with phenomenological philosophy. This article seeks to feature two concepts from psychopathology of a philosophical origin which, in their strict application to psychopathology, could be of considerable value for diagnostic purposes and for the introduction and follow-up of therapeutic strategies: the notions of dialectics and essence. There are two main technical uses of dialectics in phenomenological psychopathology, both of them drawing especially on the work of Blankenburg: Hegelian dialectics and proportional dialectics. Hegelian dialectics focuses on the dynamics of transformation of existence by analysing the positivity of negativity and the negativity of positivity;  proportional dialectics focuses on the anthropological proportions of existence, seeking to establish the relative participation of partial pre-reflexive dimensions like temporality, spatiality, embodiment or identity in any psychopathological entity. The conception of proportional dialectics leads to the need to redefine the notion of an essence of psychopathological entities, now defined as a relatively stable form of disproportion. Clinical examples are offered. As a consequence, we define phenomenological procedures as constituting a bifocal comprehension, where one of the foci observes the essential core of the condition and the other observes its movement. Essence and dialectic proportions are thus offered up as key instruments for the observation of different and sequential existential moments of life in the patient. We conclude by showing some practical consequences of the use of these concepts in phenomenological psychopathology.