The Phenomenological Method Applied to Acute Psychiatric Situations

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DOI: 10.23880/phij-16000S1-0013

Special Issue 1: Philosophies of Dialogue

Abstract

The most accepted definition of urgency in psychiatry is that of a situation of acute and severe mental and behavioral suffering, which requires immediate treatment. Therefore, in the situation defined as “psychiatric urgency”, a descriptive and nosographic element (acute), a prognostic element (severity) and a therapeutic element (need for immediate treatment) coexists. In any case, it remains difficult and complex, sometimes enigmatic, to understand the acute episode within the course of a specific pathology. It is a matter of having to oscillate in front of the patient “between the madness of a moment and the madness of an existence” [1]. By the way, contribution from philosophical discourse may be helpful to clarify the psychopathological structure of acute psychiatric urgencies.

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