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The usual attempts at treating schizophrenic patients with psychoanalytic therapy have been thwarted by the nature of the disease which precludes the development of the kind of transference essential to classic psychoanalysis. Schizophrenia, however, is potentially amenable to treatment if the psychoanalytic
technique is modified to meet the characteristic peculiarities of the disorder. Kurt Eissler gives some brief comments on five patients illustrating adaptations of psychoanalytic technique to schizophrenic conditions, and on three patients treated by metrazol. It is assumed that 'in the present social organization [is] a factor which induces patients to develop the schizophrenic syndrome with greater ease than was the case fifty years ago'. Therefore the author tries to differentiate between a 'schizoid psychosis' and true schizophrenia.
According to him, the development of a symptom frequently denotes defensive activity in the living organism and its disappearance does not necessarily mean improvement. So far as the study of shock-treated patients is concerned, Eissler found signs of dementia in each of them. A rebellious spirit was broken in one student and he succeeded better in the automatic learning of mathematics. The dream life of these patients is amazingly similar to the dream life of children.