Maja Kittel

I am currently conducting empirical research concerning the content of delusions, primarily those occurring in schizophrenia.

My research is funded by a subgrant I received from the Ian Ramsey Centre for Science and Religion at the University of Oxford as part of the “New Horizons for Science and Religion in Central and Eastern Europe” grant provided by the Templeton Foundation.

I am conducting in-depth qualitative interviews with (currently only Polish) specialists in the fields of psychiatry and psychology who work with individuals experiencing delusions.

My purpose is to confront particular hypotheses, ideas and intuitions about the mechanisms of delusions that are prevalent in philosophy of psychiatry with the lived experience of specialist who practice psychiatry and psychology. I am focusing on delusions that occur typically in people diagnosed with schizophrenia, seeking confirmation (or rebuttal) of ideas concerning their special nature and specific contents.

I am also interested in real-life stories of people experiencing delusions and the experiences of specialist working with them. As a philosopher, I am immersed in philosophical categories that do not always align with psychiatric and psychological practice; I am very keen to confront some of these categories with practical experience.

The part of the project funded by the Ian Ramsey Centre (12 interviews) is now completed and I’m currently analysing my data. 

However, because so far the interviews have proved to be truly eye-opening, I have not stopped at 12, and intend to gather more data, preferably from English-speaking specialists in the autumn and winter of 2024/2025.