ABSTRACT
This chapter is dedicated to phenomenological psychiatry. This perspective aims to comprehend the existential modality of people who suffer from mental disorders. The concepts of ‘failed existence’ (Binswanger, 1954) and ‘loss of the natural self-evidence’ (Blankenburg, 1971) are investigated in order to clarify the way this kind of perspective considers the central essence of schizophrenia. Schizophrenic language, which represents a crucial field for phenomenological psychiatry, is regarded as deeply connected to the schizophrenic form of life. Words that express madness are given a great importance, because they allow us to discover those existence’s structural modalities that feature mental disorders. There is nothing meaningless or incomprehensible; it is always possible to accede to that level of analysis that makes even the most incoherent speech understandable. However, the anti-normativism characterising this perspective hides some risks, which are pointed out at the end of the chapter.
