Understanding schizophrenia within a Daseinsanalytic context: An introduction to the existential psychology of Medard Boss

Since the earliest of times the understanding of human behavior has been of great concern to man. How one interprets human behavior has been the source of great debate and has usually been the main obstacle in an adequate understanding of human behavior. The question of how one is to interpret human behavior becomes very crucial with respect to so-called "abnormal" behavior. Humanity's understanding of this type of behavior has gone from categorizing it as "madness," to its modern interpretation as "mental illness." Along with this categorization, humanity has also developed specific strategies or techniques with which to deal with the "mad" or "mentally" ill. And these too have been a cause of much debate.; At the forefront of this debate as to how one is to understand human behavior, and especially "abnormal" human behavior, is the Swiss psychiatrist, Medard Boss. Boss, a psychiatrist and former psychoanalyst, has attempted to develop an alternate view of interpretation in regard to "abnormal" behavior and its possible treatment. Boss's psychological and psychotherapeutic approach, known as Daseinsanalysis, takes as its point of departure the philosophical thinking of the German philosopher Martin Heidegger.; In the course of this study I attempt to undertake in depth an examination of Boss's approach to the analysis of the phenomenon of schizophrenia. In pursuing this study I focus on the following points: (1) the psychiatric milieu within which Boss's intellectual development evolved with particular attention being paid to the relationship between Boss and the German philosopher Martin Heidegger; (2) the relationship between Daseinsanalysis and psychoanalysis with their differing conception of man; (3) the relationship between Daseinsanalysis and medical science; (4) an examination of the traditional understanding of the phenomenon of schizophrenia; (5) a re-evaluation of schizophrenia in terms of the Daseinsanalysis based on an actual case study; and (6) a critical examination of Daseinsanalysis focusing on the significance of philosophical thinking to the fields of psychology and psychiatry.; I conclude that Boss places psychology and medical science in general on a different foundation such that an adequate understanding not only of schizophrenia, but also of "mental" illness in general, becomes possible for the first time.