On the psychological structure of alienation syndrome and the mechanisms of negative “voice” content

AIM. To discuss the historical traditions, modern approaches and experimental research data of the alienation syndrome, including the phenomena of mental automatism, depersonalization, “voices”; to comprehend the correlation between the phenomena of alienation and dissociation.

RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS. Data from classical pathopsychological experiments which investigating the psychological structure of the alienation syndrome are analyzed. In the pathopsychological school of B.V. Zeigarnik aspects of the examination situation, including mental tension and presence of errors perceptible to the examinee, were studied as moderators of the dynamics of the Kandinsky–Clerambault syndrome. The role of social evaluation factor as a significant source of strengthening or weakening of symptoms was shown. Manifestations of alienation are often perceived as negative influences exerting power over the individual, controlling, humiliating, insulting or “interfering” with performance. Auditory hallucinations are not so much an auditory event, a perceptual defect, as a psychosocial dialogic phenomenon embodying internalized, often negative, patterns of social interaction. Contemporary psychotherapies for auditory hallucinations include an understanding of the role of metacognitive strategies, social emotions, negative content, and patterns of “voice”: interaction.