The two-day workshop will focus on an interview she developed to assess experiential changes associated with schizophrenia. The workshop will be delivered to graduate and post-doctoral students as well as professors affiliated with Ghent.

Schizophrenia is a chronic, severe mental disorder that affects the way a person thinks, acts, expresses emotions, perceives reality, and relates to others.

In psychology, an interview is a directed conversation in which the interviewer intends to elicit specific information from an individual for research, diagnosis, treatment, or employment.

Pienkos is one of the two primary authors of the Examination of Anomalous World Experience, an interview that assesses subtle changes in experiences of the lived world in schizophrenia. During the workshop, she will explain how the interview was developed, why it is valuable and how best to administer it.

Schizophrenia is often viewed as a mysterious and severe disorder, one that cuts people off from reality and prevents communication and empathic understanding. But there are many more aspects of the disorder than meet the eye. Pienkos' research suggests that the disorder is not as incomprehensible as is believed.

"By using interviews focused on the individual’s experience, we can start to understand how and why certain symptoms develop," says Pienkos. "This allows us to develop treatments and interventions that can be more effective. Even more importantly, it helps convey empathy and understanding to people who may be feeling quite isolated and misunderstood."

Pienkos' other projects involve the study of world experience in chronic schizophrenia, the nature of self and world experience in schizophrenia and depersonalization disorder, and changes in the lived world that are associated with hallucinatory experiences.