ABSTRACT
In everyday life, we assume that most of our experiences are real and that we share this reality with others, although we do also have experiences whose reality status is unclear, such as dreams, phantasies, and personal beliefs. In psychopathology, we find a variety of experiences where the reality status is uncertain. Besides hallucinations and delusions, the psychopathological phenomenon of double book-keeping is also particularly puzzling, as the delusional patient seems to live in two realities at the same time: a shared and a private reality. The purpose of this chapter is to clarify the role of intersubjectivity in the experience of reality and in its deviations, such as in schizophrenic delusions and double book-keeping. Seven factors are heuristically identified in order to address our experience of reality and its disturbances. Among these factors, it is argued that intersubjectivity has a particular relevance for interpreting both double book-keeping and delusions.
