Disorders and Coherence of the Embodied Self

International Conference DISCOS: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Disorders and Coherence of the Embodied Self.

During the last decade, philosophical, psychological and neurobiological approaches to the self have increasingly overcome their disciplinary constraints and entered into a productive dialogue. Different levels of self-awareness such as the core or mini­mal self and the extended or narrative self have been distinguished and investi­gated from a phenomenol­ogical, developmental and neuro-cognitive perspective. In this context, disorders of self-experience have also attracted growing attention. The concept of embodiment may serve as a crucial junction for integrating these different ap­proaches into a common framework. This idea has inspired the European Marie-Curie Research Training Network “Disorders and Coherence of the Embodied Self” (DISCOS), a consortium of 10 European research facilities which organizes this con­ference.
The conference is aimed at creating an interdisciplinary forum for the exchange of ideas on the themes of embodiment, self-awareness and its disorders. Special emphasis will be placed on
· the interplay of biological and social factors for establishing self-coherence
· the relevance of intersubjectivity and intercorporeality for the development of the self
· neuropsychiatric disorders of the embodied self, their nature and origins
· therapeutic and ethical consequences.

A number of distinguished speakers have been invited for the conference. There will be a schedule of plenary sessions and poster sessions.

We look forward to meeting you in the charming city of Heidelberg and its beautiful surroundings.

Thomas Fuchs
General Psychiatry
University of Heidelberg

Peter Henningsen
Psychosomatic Medicine
Technical University of Munich