The schizophrenic's relationship with his mother is strikingly similar in certain superficial aspects to other relations consisting of controlling power in one partner and adaptive maneuvers in the other submissive partner; for example, the relation between boss and subordinate in a totalitarian state, between husband and wife in a patriarchy, and between master and slave. However, in these culturally determined examples the weaker partner's reality testing is not fundamentally impaired; it is primarily a matter of assuming a role imposed by the social situation. The schizophrenic has a fundamental ego defect that is psychologically determined in early childhood by the mother's pressure on him to experience reality as she wanted it to be (constitutional predisposition is not hereby dismissed). Stierlin develops this thesis, indicating its implications for therapy with schizophrenics. He acknowledges his indebtedness to Freud, Fromm-Reichmann, and Sullivan.