Concerning the relationship between the schizophrenic and his mother, the bulk of the existing literature indicates that positive feelings do not exist, or exist only in much lesser degree than such feelings as mutual hatred and rejection. In this paper I have presented a markedly differing concept, at which I have arrived in the course of eight years of intensive psychotherapy with chronic schizophrenic patients: positive feelings are most importantly present in that relationship, however intensely denied by both mother and child; such feelings are, in fact, the most powerful determinants of the structure of the mother-patient relationship, and of the development and maintenance of the schizophrenic illness. I have documented this concept with an example of the kind of clinical experience which has convinced me of its validity.