Smell and psychosis
Starting from my own experience, this talk is about disgust and enjoyment of smell in psychosis. Could the loss of decorum in psychotic condition be related to a weird odor perception, a lack of disgust? In my case, lack of enjoyment also played a role, but rather during recovery after psychosis. No longer hindered by hallucinations, I looked into the future, but I lacked signs for direction. Regaining a sense of direction was essential to recovery. Through the experience of pleasant smells, I regained a smellscape and a shared world.
Most of the existing research on smell deals with dysfunctional olfactory processes in a biomedical perspective. However, this does not give us insight into shifting experiences of smell. I try to find logic and functionality in such shifts. In this presentation I discuss some personal experiences with smell and psychosis. The objective is to contribute to understanding psychosis, and perhaps even shed some light on ordinary life.
Bovenstaande is uitgewerkt tot een 20 minuten durende presentatie op Too Mad To Be True III. Er is een video opname van. Wil je er meer van weten of samenwerken op dit onderwerp, mail me dan.