Contemporary psychiatric nosology has evolved with a primary goal of reducing the presence and influence of subjectivity by valuing objective symptoms and explanations (e. g. neurobiological models of psychopathology). However, improvements in the reliability and validity of these endeavours have fallen short of expectations, and it has been argued that one reason for these failures is the very omission or neglect of subjectivity in understanding and explaining mental illness. This paper supports the need for a paradigm shift, from researching the “what” of mental symptoms to a focus on “how” patients experience themselves and the world when undergoing a mental disorder. We review past contributions to disturbances of subjectivity, particularly in schizophrenia, which have contributed to the creation of a new bio-pheno-social model. We also discuss available tools for the systematic assessment of subjective anomalies. We pay special attention to the Examination of Anomalous World Experience (EAWE), which considers disturbances in world engagement, including the experience of atmosphere, space and objects, lived time and temporality, interpersonal relations, language, and existential concerns. Ultimately, we stress that the exploration of subjective experiences is essential, promising, and achievable in research on mental disorders.

This paper outlines several of the challenges that are inherent in any attempt to communicate subjective experience to others, particularly in the context of a clinical interview. It presents the phenomenological interview as a way of effectively responding to these challenges, which may be especially important when attempting to understand the profound experiential transformations that take place in schizophrenia. Features of language experience in schizophrenia – including changes in interpersonal orientation, a sense of the arbitrariness of language, and a desire for faithful communication of experience (including of ineffable transformations of experience) – are described, together with discussion of their relevance for the interview context. Furthermore, the interview presents a unique context in which both intersubjective and interpersonal aspects of experience will be described as well as evoked. It is proposed that phenomenological interviewers should not only be familiar with these and other experiences that can occur in schizophrenia, but also capable of applying the techniques of phenomenological and hermeneutic methods in order to understand the descriptions of interviewees with sensitivity and accuracy.

Key words: phenomenological psychopathology, clinical interview, schizophrenia. psychosis, language