title: Psychopathology beyond semiology. An essay on the inner workings of psychopathology.
abstract: This text develops three interwoven issues: first, a succinct comparative analysis of medical and psychiatric semiology, which proposes that the lack of referring relations between psychiatric symptoms and brain/psychic dysfunction is a fundamental distinction between medical and psychiatric semiology. Second, the multiple features of psychiatric semiology are reviewed. Third, a new approach to psychopathology is introduced, proposing three different ways to shape symptoms (perception, linguistic structure, praxis); highlighting its role as a cognitive activity that creates intelligibility from undifferentiated experiences; and distinguishing psychopathology and semiology on an activity/product relation basis.
authors.affiliation: Hospital Universitario de La Princesa, Madrid.
authors.forename: Carlos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Rejón Altable
authors.forename: Tom
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Dening
keywords: Logical technique; medical semiology; psychiatric semiology; psychopathology; symptom heterogeneity