This book introduces the reader to a clear and consistent method for in-depth exploration of
subjective psychopathological experiences with the aim of helping to restore the ability within
psychiatry and clinical psychology to draw qualitative distinctions between mental symptoms
that are only apparently similar thereby promoting a more precise characterization of
experiential phenotypes. A wide range of mental disorders are considered in the book each
portrayed by a distinguished clinician. Each chapter begins with the description of a
paradigmatic case study in order to introduce the reader directly to the patient's lived world.
The first-person perspective of the patient is the principal focus of attention. The essential
defining features of each psychopathological phenomenon and the meaning that the patient
attaches to it are carefully analyzed in order to make sense of the patient's apparently
nonsensical experiences. In the second part of each chapter the case study is discussed within
the context of relevant literature and a detailed picture of the state of the art concerning
the psychopathological understanding of the phenomenon at issue is provided. An Experiential
Approach to Psychopathology and the method it proposes may be considered the result of
convergence of classic phenomenological psychopathological concepts and updated clinical
insights into patients' lived experiences. It endorses three key principles: subjective
phenomena are the quintessential feature of mental disorders their qualitative study is
mandatory phenomenology has developed a rigorous method to grasp what it is like to be a
person experiencing psychopathological phenomena. While the book is highly relevant for expert
clinical phenomenologists it is written in a way that will be readily understandable for
trainees and young clinicians.
