Psychodynamic approach

• Freud and schizophrenia

  • Judge named Daniel Schreber was hospitalised on 3 occasions and diagnosed with schizophrenia
  • Wrote a book about his experience called 'memories of my nervous illness'
  • Freud never met Schreber but based his explanation of schizophrenia on his book
• Fixation

  • During the oral stage the libido is satisfied from stimulation of the lips and mouth, mostly from breastfeeding
  • Too much or too little stimulation will lead to fixation
  • Proposed that individuals with schizophrenia had become fixated during the first two months of the oral stage of development
• Regression

  • Most adults tend to satisfy any oral desires through kissing, smoking and chewing gum
  • If an adult experiences excessive stress they may regress back to the oral stage (ID dominant)
  • Can explain the development of hallucinations and delusions
• Losing touch with reality

  • Ego is not fully developed during the oral stage
  • If an individual regresses back to the oral stage prior to the ego's development, the ID operates without constraint
  • Positive symptoms like hallucinations and delusions represent the ID's activites
  • Individual loses touch with reality, finding it difficult to distinguish real life from desire and fantasy
  • Ego limits fantasy and desires in well-adjusted adults
  • Individuals with schizophrenia supposedly display primary narcissim similar to a young baby
• Schizophrenogenic mother

  • Child mother relationship is crucial in the development of schizophrenia
  • Such mothers are overprotective and controlling but at the same time rejecting and distant
  • Hinders emotional development and personal security leading to individuals who are very vulnerable when faced with stress