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Richard Erskine opens his book, Withdrawal, Silence, Loneliness: Psychotherapy of the Schizoid Process, by defining the schizoid split: a division between the concealed self, which is vulnerable and authentic, and the outside self, which is carefully cultivated and controlled– a social facade. The schizoid split results from cumulative parental neglect coupled with intrusiveness and criticism. To his description, influenced by British object relations theorists Fairburn, Guntrip, and Winnicott, Erskine usefully offers his diagnostic perspective: he sees schizoid as a spectrum syndrome, ranging from a disorder (a fixed split), to a pattern (a tendency to engage superficially and stay withdrawn), to a style (a sensitivity to interpersonal shame and readiness to retreat). Moreover, Erskine offers his clinical perspective: as a transactional analyst, he believes each part of the split self requires specific psychotherapeutic attention.
Erskine breaks down the schizoid split of two into a multiple of four: The social self, the introjecting self, the internal saboteur self, and the sequestered self. Each self, depicted in the book with cute albeit unnecessary illustrations of caterpillars in various states of being, has its own relational style and therapeutic needs, according to Erskine. For example, whereas the social self may benefit from a cost-benefit analysis of security gained but genuineness lost, the sequestered self may benefit from the opportunity to inhabit a quiet, private place in the accepting presence of the therapist.
A chapter (pp. 31–43) is devoted to how Erskine works with his patient Violet's sequestered self. During the initial two years of treatment, Erskine found himself feeling drowsy as Violet relayed repetitive stories of family strife and work struggles and complaints of feeling fat. She also had habits of looking askance and saying nothing at all for stretches of time. Having grown frustrated with his thwarted attempts to engage her interpersona