Intensity of Casual Relationships in Schizophrenia: Living in Imagination

A Tendency towards instant loves and hates is acted out by some schizophrenic persons. These loves and hates disappear as rapidly as they appear. A week or even a day after the feeling has disappeared, the person behaves as though he had barely known the other whom he so loved or hated. For the most part, he hardly knew the person nor did their encounter warrant so great a response. Sometimes the same person continues to be the focus of waning and rekindled emotion. Sometimes the focus shifts from person to person with intervals, between crises of passion, of little intensity towards anyone. It is unlikely that all schizophrenics show this tendency, but it is more than likely that all persons having this tendency are schizophrenic. It represents an impulsive and compulsive imaginary relating to persons, the actual relationship with whom may be real but casual.

It seems as though the person is in a process of phasic relating and dis-relating, the manifestations and forms of which are of several varieties. The duration of interest in a particular person ranges from as little as an hour to weeks, seldom going beyond three or four weeks. Interval time between periods of interest have, similarly, a range from days to two or three weeks. Sometimes the feelings of being involved with the other are experienced privately, and are barely made evident. Sometimes the person moves to activate the relationship or make his feelings evident to the other person. Such moves, again, range evident from a few gestures such as a smile or a nod, to aggressive actions such as telephoning, talking directly, or asking to join the other in some activity. These covert and overt actions can be seen to be tests as to acceptability by the other person. The feelings behind the testing actions range from conscious doubt as to acceptability, all the way to what appears to be certainty as to acceptability with minimal considerations for the feelings of the other persons. There is generally a pattern d