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The word 'intuition' is derived from the Latin verb intueor, which means to look closely at something, to look upon (mentally), to observe, to keep before the eyes, etc. In everyday speech the words 'see' and 'look' are more frequently used to denote what is meant by the word think than is the word 'think' itself. On this and other evidence, much of which is clinical, the author proposes the following hypotheses. (I) All thought stems from sensory perceptions, amongst which the visual predominate. (II) Sensory perceptions constantly combine into new forms. Study of the dream may provide the answer to the problem of how the mind has the capacity to form new combinations of old and new sensory perceptions. The stimulus for these new productions is always an affective one.
The intuitive experience has an element of suddenness, it erupts into consciousness in a 'ready for use' form. It differs from other thinking processes only with regard to the rapidity of the connections and in the availability of channels of communication. An ability to utilize what the author terms 'inner tools' endows the individual therapist with greater intuitive awareness.
The schizophrenic patient provides material which taxes the analyst to the uttermost. As the patient is in a sense dreaming though awake, his thinking being dominated by primary process mechanisms, this places a great strain upon the stability of the analyst's ego defences. The tendency to regress with the patient provokes great anxiety. The analyst must be able to tolerate this bizarre experience and try to translate the dream into terms of the patient's present reality. Only with the aid of intuitive under-standing can this be accomplished.
Excerpts from the treatment of a severely disturbed woman are given to support the theoretical views presented.