Delusion as a fundamental phenomenon ( Urphänomen ): implications for phenomenological psychotherapy

This article problematises the conventional psychiatric definition of delusion as a fixed false belief resistant to counterevidence, highlighting the limitations of this formulation in grasping the broader psychopathological configuration within which delusions emerge. In contrast, it revisits Karl Jaspers’s phenomenological conception, according to which delusion may be understood as a fundamental phenomenon (Urphänomen), namely, as a transformation in the structure of lived reality rather than as the expression of an isolated cognitive disturbance. From this approach, the article examines the clinical, psychotherapeutic, and ethical implications of conceiving delusion in phenomenological terms. Emphasis is placed on the shift from symptom reduction through pharmacological treatment and cognitive approaches focused on correcting delusional content towards a psychotherapeutic stance grounded in the empathic understanding of the patient’s experience “from within”.