"Consciousness and the Phenomenology of Psychosis" with Shauna Winram

Friday 3rd October 2025

"Consciousness and the Phenomenology of Psychosis"
With Shauna Winram

at MacKillop House, 50 Archibald St, Lyneham, ACT (and by Zoom)

This talk is an overview of my PhD research. My research is a philosophical attempt to understand psychosis within the framework of the science of consciousness.

Psychosis is a symptom of illnesses such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. As there are no known biological markers for these disorders, novel approaches are required to better understand them and help people manage and understand their experience. Consciousness is defined here as our subjective first-person experience. Consciousness can be understood to occur in specific global states, such as the normal waking state, states of being under light anaesthetic, or REM dreaming.

Part One of my thesis determines how consciousness during psychosis differs from the normal waking state and explores whether psychosis is a distinct global state.

Part Two explores the correlations between the changes in consciousness and the beliefs people experience during psychosis. I draw on both quantitative data from an online survey and qualitative data from interviews with people who have experienced psychosis to explore these issues.

Shauna Winram is a PhD candidate in the School of Philosophy at the Australian National University and a lived experience researcher, having had three psychotic episodes in her twenties. Her PhD is titled Consciousness and the phenomenology of psychosis. Her approach to understanding psychosis differs from the dominant biomedical model. She hopes that by exploring the ways that consciousness can vary, we can learn more about the type of experiences people have when they are psychotic.

Her goal is to take the first-person experience of psychosis seriously and to determine how our philosophical and scientific understanding of consciousness can shed light on this experience and, in turn, how an experientially informed understanding of psychosis can improve philosophical and/or scientific accounts of consciousness. Prior to her PhD, she competed a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, a Master of Analytical Psychology degree, and a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) degree.

Cost for attendance (at MacKillop House):
Jung Society members free.
Guests $20 (Seniors/Concession $15).
Pay cash at the door, or by bank transfer or by credit card, or via TryBooking

Cost for on-line access:
Jung Society members free (We'll send you a link).
Guests $10:
Pay by bank transfer or by credit card or PayPal via TryBooking.

We meet from 7:30pm for tea and coffee and snacks, music and library.
The Guest Speaker's presentation is at 8pm for an hour or so, then we resume for questions and discussion, finishing by 10pm.

Details: www.canberrajungsociety.org.au

Also check out other Arts events in Canberra, Fine Arts events in Canberra.