The Evolution of Schizoid Orality

The concept of the schizoid character was first developed in psychiatry and later by psychoanalysis, in particular the objects relations school. The word schizoid has come to refer to (1) a prodrome to schizophrenia, (2) a personality type predisposing to schizophrenia, (3) a stage in developed as proposed by the Kleinian school, and (4) an isolative character style (Siever, 1981). An attempt to understand the last definition and the dynamics behind it will be made by looking at the contributions of both psychiatry and psychoanalysis.

The term schizoid was coined by Bleuler to describe those people who were seclusive, suspicious, poor conversationalists, oversensitive, and seen as pursuing odd interests. Kraepelin first associated these persons with the families of schizophrenics. Kretschmer (1925) noted that this group seems to be psychically “over-sensitive and cold at the same time.” The association with schizophrenia has since been proven in thorough genetic studies to be false (Kety, Rosenthal, Wender, Schulsinger, and Jacobson, 1978) and those who do maintain a relationship admit that it is the healthiest end of the schizophrenic spectrum.

The DSM-III and DSM-III-R divide socially isolative personalities into two disorders: avoidant and schizoid. The avoidant is apparently isolative because he fears hurt or rebuff in a relationship. The schizoid is isolative according to DSM-III because he apparently has no interest in social relationships. Recent psychiatric literature (Livesley, West, and Tanney, 1985; Trull, Widiger, and Frances, 1987; Widiger, Frances, Spitzer, and Williams, 1988) increasingly sees this separation as due to different levels of defense. With an empathetic interviewer most of not all schizoids admit an underlying desire for social contact but with a degree of acceptance and understanding that they believe they cannot find. This desire explains the paradox observed by Kretschmer that schizoids appear aloof and oversensitive