Intersubjectivity and Its Role in Schizophrenic Experience

Social disturbances are common in schizophrenia and can be quite severe, significantly affecting functioning in a variety of ways. Yet the kinds of social disruptions experienced by persons with schizophrenia show a great deal of variability and are difficult to explain with available data. This article considers the variety of intersubjective disturbances that can occur in schizophrenia from a phenomenological perspective, focusing in particular on perceptual disorganization, opacity, loss of common sense, and forms of self-other confusion (petrification and totalization). To explain how these sorts of anomalous experiences might be related to other core disturbances in schizophrenia, the article draws on several prominent phenomenological theories of intersubjectivity, especially Scheler’s (1954= 1973) ‘‘expressive unity’’ and Stein’s (1916=1989) and Ratcliffe’s (2012) characterizations of empathy. Finally, the article suggests how these interpersonal disruptions may also play a role in paranoia, solipsism, and derealization, experiences of the lived world that are common in schizophrenia.