1. Psychosis as a Transformation of the Flesh : Some Merleau-Pontian Musings on MadnessAdnan Sivić, 2025, original scientific article Abstract: Psychosis is often understood in one of two ways: as a breakdown of cognitive circuitry, which has nothing to teach us as far as phenomenology is concerned and that can be treated only by focusing on the underlying causal processes that bring it about (reductionism and the ‘madness-as-nonsense’ view), or, alternatively, as a different interpretation of reality, one with nothing distinctly pathological about it (relativism). In this paper, I outline a different approach, drawing largely on Merleau-Ponty’s work, which aims to encompass both the properly unintelligible (pathological) and intelligible (expressive, phenomenologically informative) aspects of psychosis. By applying Merleau-Ponty’s analysis of expression to the problem of psychosis and psychotic language, the latter can be understood as an attempt at expression – a kind of speech without language that is most often incomplete, but that can under specific circumstances be made intelligible to others, often to significant therapeutic benefit. The present paper thus aims to complement and conceptually elucidate recent work in phenomenological psychiatry, which has demonstrated the clinical significance of enabling patients to express various aspects of their psychotic episodes.
Keywords: psychosis, phenomenology, philosophy of psychiatry, Merleau-Ponty, phenomenology of language
Published in RUP: 22.01.2026; Views: 312; Downloads: 1
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2. Collaborative outcomes study on health and functioning during infection times (COH-FIT) : global and risk-group stratified course of well-being and mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic in adolescentsMarco Solmi, Trevor Thompson, Samuele Cortese, Andrés Estradé, Agorastos Agorastos, Joaquim Radua, Elena Dragioti, Davy Vancampfort, Lau Caspar Thygesen, Harald Aschauer, Diego De Leo, 2025, original scientific article Abstract: Objective: To identify the COVID-19 impact on well-being/mental health, coping strategies and risk factors in adolescent worldwide. Method: Anonymous online multi-national/language survey in the general population (representative/weighted non-representative samples, 14-17years), measuring change in well-being (WHO-5/range=0-100) and psychopathology (validated composite P-score/range=0-100), WHO-5 <50 and <29, pre- versus during COVID-19 pandemic (26/04/2020-26/06/2022). Coping strategies, nine a-priori defined individual/cumulative risk factors were measured. χ2, penalized cubic splines, linear regression, and correlation analyses were conducted. Results: Analyzing 8,115 of 8,762 initiated surveys (representative=75.1%), the pre-pandemic WHO-5 and P-score remained stable during the study (excluding relevant recall bias/drift), but worsened intra-pandemic by 5.55±17.13 (standard deviation) and 6.74±16.06 points, respectively (effect size d=0.27 and d=0.28). The proportion of adolescents with WHO-5 scores suggesting depression screening (<50) and major depression (<29) increased from 9% to 17% and 2% to 6%. WHO-5 worsened (descending magnitude, with cumulative effect) in adolescents with a mental or physical disorder, female gender, and with school closure. Results were similar for P-score, with the exception of school closure (not significant) and living in a low-income country, as well as not living in a large city (significant). Changes were significantly but minimally related to COVID-19 deaths/restrictions, returning to near-pre-pandemic values after >2 years. The three most subjectively effective coping strategies were internet use, exercise/walking, and social contacts. Conclusion: Overall, well-being/mental health worsened (small effect sizes) during early stages of COVID-19, especially in vulnerable subpopulations. Identified at-risk groups, association with pandemic-related measures, and coping strategies can inform individual behaviours and global public health strategies.
Keywords: Covid-19, pandemic, survey, WHO-5, P-factor, well-being, mental health, psychiatry, adolescents
Published in RUP: 12.09.2025; Views: 2147; Downloads: 8
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