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The theoretical background of this study is mainly related to Federn's theory of the ego boundaries and its application to disturbances of the ego in schizophrenia. It also includes Bychowski's observations on the 'Weakness of the Schizophrenic Ego'. Bychowski draws attention to the fluidity of ego boundaries, a phenomenon which is tantamount to the poor differentiation of the ego from the external world. The author uses three tests, the Rorschach, the Mosaic, and the Figure Drawing Test, to throw light on the problem of ego boundaries. Examples are given in order to illustrate in the test material what the author calls 'contaminations', 'fluid contours', 'extension of the ego field into other fields', 'sensitivity to external stimuli', and 'disturbances of the body image'.
Seventy-five schizophrenic patients were examined by the tests. They were divided into three groups:
chronically hospitalized schizophrenics;
ambulatory schizophrenics;
ambulatory schizophrenics not responding to treatment.
The author found that the indications of a fluidity of ego boundaries are definitely more pronounced in the hospitalized schizophrenic. In the ambulatory population such indications are both less intense, less widespread, and less complex. The third group shows similarities with the first.
Mrs Zucker feels that the tests contribute to the differentiation of schizophrenics with a bad prognosis from those with a better prognosis. She also suggests that the objective evidence of an ego disturbance will influence the psycho-therapeutic methods which should be used. As the author herself points out, the tests were almost one-sidedly designed to test the theory of ego boundaries, and such disturbances are clearly revealed by the tests. I am inclined, however, to suggest that a wider theoretical basis for the tests, including the psycho-analytic research done in Great Britain, might widen the usefulness and application of the tests, which among other features show clear examples