Rapaport's theory of ego autonomy describes id, ego, and environment in equilibrium with each other. Boorstein suggests a program of treatment for regressed schizophrenic patients on a woman's ward based on this theory. By manipulation of the environment the author attempts to reduce the pressure on the ego from the id impulse; he works differently from Lilly and Hebb who by reduction of external stimuli caused a change in the relations between ego and id, producing psychoticlike states. Adequate stimulation is necessary to maintain ego autonomy. This program of industrial and occupational therapy was successful in re-establishing more adequate autonomous ego states in his patients. Good results were obtained after several months of this regime. These gains were maintained. However, the theory of treatment and Rapaport's hypothesis are of such different nature, and there are so many variables, that the problem seems to have been oversimplified.