Psychopathology: An Empathic Representational Approach retraces the foundations of classical phenomenological psychopathology and integrates them with modern ideas drawn from anthropology, cognitive neuroscience, computational science, and evolutionary biology to synthesize a comprehensive framework and provide fresh insights. This book explores how the scientific concepts of ‘information and representation’ can be used to understand subjective mental phenomena and integrate them in empathic clinical dialogues during interactions with patients. It explores key issues in clinical psychopathology coherently and systematically, illustrates advanced topics in an accessible manner using clinical case examples, metaphors and clarifying diagrams, and directly links advanced conceptual frameworks with pragmatic skills in the clinical dialogue process. This volume is aimed at a broad audience of mental health professionals, researchers, and students in psychiatry, psychology, and social work. Its interdisciplinary treatment of the subject will also interest biologists, anthropologists, cognitive psychologists, neuroscientists, and philosophers. ‘In this tour de force, Eric Chen integrates philosophical perspectives with current themes in brain sciences to explain how we experience our environments, ourselves, and each other. An exhilarating framework for modern psychopathological inquiry, this is a must-read for anyone curious about the mind and how it can go awry.’ —Peter B. Jones, Professor of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge ‘Eric Chen has created a work that conceptually connects psychopathology to relevant disciplines in biology, evolution, cognition, linguistics, clinical psychiatry, and computational/information domains. It will certainly encourage in-depth reflections and stimulate research in clinical psychopathology.’ —Peter Falkai, Chair of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Munich ‘In the face of social, cultural, and biological changes, psychopathology needs periodic revision. Professor Chen addresses the complexities of this unique task with an original and scholarly approach that will stimulate both clinicians and researchers.’ —Ivana S. Marková, Professor of Psychiatry, University of Hull

This book covers some of the most serious mental health conditions that top the global disease burden and affect 3% of the general population. However, most research on psychotic disorders is undertaken in the West, and few studies have been systematically carried out in Asia despite global interest in regional differences. This work offers a unique and coherent account of these disorders and their treatment in Hong Kong over the last thirty years. Chen and his research programme’s pioneering work has ranged from the impact of early intervention on outcomes and relapse prevention, to the renaming of psychosis to reduce stigma. The studies have contributed to wider international debates on the optimal management of the condition. Their investigations in semantics and cognition, as well as cognition-enhancing exercise interventions, have provided novel insights into deficits encountered in psychotic disorders and how they might be ameliorated. The research has also explored subjective experiences of psychosis and elicited unique perspectives in patients of Asian origin. Each topic is divided into three sections: a global background of the challenges encountered; research findings from Hong Kong; and reflections that place the data in scientific and clinical contexts and offer future directions. “This book contains important research into specific problems facing persons with psychosis and schizophrenia in Hong Kong, arising from environment factors, stigma, and treatment shortfalls. Its insights would help “overcome barriers to facilitate mental health work”, which is how Professor Eric Chen describes the work of the Advisory Committee on Mental Health, and what he has admirably devoted himself to do over the years.” —Wong Yan-Lung SC, chairman, Advisory Committee on Mental Health, Hong Kong, 2017–2023 ‘This learned and comprehensive opus about schizophrenia, its causes, course, and outcomes reaches far beyond its regional scope and presents the best of the world’s current knowledge about schizophrenia as well as the significant contribution to it made by the authors working in Hong Kong.’ —Norman Sartorius, MD, PhD, FRCPsych, president, Association of the Improvement of Mental Health Programs, Geneva

Psychopathology: An Empathic Representational Approach retraces the foundations of classical phenomenological psychopathology and integrates them with modern ideas drawn from anthropology, cognitive neuroscience, computational science, and evolutionary biology to synthesize a comprehensive framework and provide fresh insights.This book explores how the scientific concepts of 'information and representation' can be used to understand subjective mental phenomena.