Family Therapy of Psychotics

Alimited goal has been set for this paper, that of demonstrating through clinical material that there is an interrelationship between the symptomatology of a schizophrenic individual and the emotional life of his primary family. I believe with Murray Bowen “that the schizophrenic psychosis is a symptom manifestation of an acute process that involves the entire family,” and I plan to show that therapeutic intervention can modify the family dynamics and thereby influence the fate of its psychotic member. It is not my intention to enter the discussion of the etiology of the schizophrenic illness, nor the debate as to whether the secondary or the primary processes are influenced by therapeutic intervention. I am aware that there is a group of schizophrenias, and that the findings in this instance might not apply to all the cases.

During the earliest developmental phases, a child perceives his mother as the most meaningful representative of the environment. Her's is the difficult role of promoting the simultaneous processes of union and differentiation. This essential process becomes distorted and incomplete in the individuals who are prone to schizophrenic illness: the child neither unites with his mother nor separates from her in a biologically required way.

A mother's outright rejection of a child is extremely rare. On the contrary, a mother often has no other reason for living and needs to have the child remain with her and “in her.” In many instances she wanted the baby and fantasized how her child would fulfill her dreams by his greatness. If the mother feels incomplete, she can accept the child only conditionally and as long as he remains an appendage that completes her. The most difficult time for her is when the child begins to ambulate, express initiative and gets into things. She feels secure only as long as she controls her children completely; she cannot allow them to separate. The child is essential to her and this attitude is conveyed to the offspring. Any s