The study of Psychopathology has often been presented in a descriptive form. Though this may be relevant for teaching because it helps students to recognize and identify the symptomatology of each psychopathology, it overlooks the subjective dimension of falling ill and its relational aspects. By approaching the issue from the standpoint of existential anthropology, we present a practical psychopathology teaching experience that regards these dimensions as relevant to the understanding of mental suffering. Two new modes of practical teaching employed in the "Special Psychopathology I" course offered to psychology students of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro are presented, using the descriptive case study method. The idea is to expand practical teaching, traditionally based on the model of a long clinical interview carried out in the presence of a large group of students that observe everything passively. Our aim is to bring teaching and the practice of psychopathology closer to the ideals of the Brazilian Psychiatric Reform, which views mental illness as a complex phenomenon that involves the relationship of the subject with the world.
Psychopathology; Teaching; Subjectivity; Anthropology; Existentialism