[Schizophrenia -- an existential disease].

Abstract

This paper deals with familiar findings in the field of schizophrenic psychosis re-interpreted from a medical anthropological (V. Weizsäcker) as well as theoretical pathological (W. Dörr) view-point. Schizophrenic psychosis is thus discussed as an existential illness of the person as well as an aesthetic challenge for a certain cultural framework. This paper therefore investigates phenomenologically three main points that are not new but ought to be continuously re-considered: 1. The cultural-scientific thesis of a uniform onto- and pathogeny: Schizophrenic psychosis serves as topical example for the genetic and ontogenetic uniformity of so-called organic and psychic illnesses. 2. The anthropological thesis of the existential "Spiegelfunktion" of schizophrenic psychosis: From the phenomenological point of view, schizophrenic psychosis is defined as an existential illness hitting and reflecting the primary nature of human beings in a shocking way. 3. The therapeutic thesis of the effect and scientific basis of the paradoxical intervention: This thesis aims at describing the impossibility of understanding schizophrenic psychosis as a pathological but rather an anthropological phenomenon and problem of life, the acknowledgment of which shows therapeutic effect. The article's main concern is to discuss schizophrenic psychosis as phenomenon of existence and suffering, however not understandable, yet reflective of the existential predicament of humanity. This cultural-scientific concern is considered a permanent aim of subject-oriented medical analysis.