---
title: "Interpretation of Schizophrenia"
chunk: 2/5
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interpretation_of_Schizophrenia"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T03:32:51.800940+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---

A characteristic of Homo sapiens is a prolonged childhood with a consequently extended dependency on adults.  This, according to Arieti, "is the basis of the psychodynamics of schizophrenia", a claim that also appears in later writers on child abuse such as Alice Miller and Colin Ross.  Arieti reviews the paper by Frieda Fromm-Reichmann about the  "schizophrenogenic" mother and reaches the tentative conclusion that only 25 percent of the mothers of people with schizophrenia in his clinical experience fit that image.  However, he adds that only in a minority of schizophrenia cases "the child is able to retain the good maternal image". He clarifies that the internal maternal image is not based solely on the real mother, but is rather influenced by all relations the patient has throughout his life. The reason for this is that from infancy onward, the relationship with the mother lays the basis for all future relationships, and remains as an internal model for every relationship the patient has, and is shaped and altered by any future relations that influence the patient's view of the world, and of society at large. Arieti also mentions the work of Theodore Lidz, another trauma model author of schizophrenia.  Like Lidz, Arieti emphasizes the parental dynamic of a domineering, hostile parent, and the other, weak spouse who is submissive to the dominant parent, and the role of this dynamic in the development of schizophrenia in the children of such dysfunctional parents. In Arieti's own words:In the first edition of this book I have described one family constellation [...] when a domineering, nagging and hostile mother, who gives the child no chance to assert himself, is married to a dependent, weak man, who is too weak to help the child [...].  In these families the weak parent [...] becomes antagonistic and hostile toward the children because [...] he displaces his anger from the spouse to the children, as the spouse is too strong to be a suitable target.The roles can be reversed when the domineering spouse is the father. If the child cannot build positive relations with the mother or the father, then he will try to find a positive maternal image in others. A brother, a sister, or other relatives, a teacher, or any other available individual the child can relate with. If the child manages to build up a relationship, where he receives healthy nurturance, reassurement and empathy, which allows them to build up a positive self-image, then the vulnerability to a schizophrenic breakdown can be averted entirely. In the cases of schizophrenia, however, the breakdown is proof that this attempt failed time and time again for the individual.
Arieti is convinced that each schizophrenia case is representative of those human situations in which something went extremely wrong.  "If we ignore it, we become deaf to a profound message that the patient may try to convey". As described in the book, in case of two brothers, Peter and Gabriel, of whom Gabriel later suffered a schizophrenic break, Arieti states that, as described by the brother, "his adolescence was a crescendo of frustration, anxiety and injury to self-esteem". Of the two brothers, Peter was the favorite of the father, who was an extremely narcissistic man who depended on Peter to maintain his self-esteem by telling fabricated stories of his time in Germany during World War II, whereas Gabriel was mostly ignored and neither parent ever really paid attention to him or gave him any affection. Gabriel tried to turn to Peter for help, but he was rejected by Peter throughout his childhood. Gabriel went through his childhood without ever disagreeing with or asserting himself in front of his parents. He later developed schizophrenia in his teens, not long after returning to home from a private school. Gabriel expressed his anxiety regarding private schooling, and wished to return home so he could work on one of the family farms. However, even at his own work he was not allowed to make decisions for himself: Ignoring what Gabriel was taught in school, his mother practically told him how to plant every single vegetable on the farm, and how to tend to other needs. Gabriel, much like in his childhood, did not try to assert himself. As a result of this he tried to give up on his job, which incited further ire and hostility from the parents. Following these events, Gabriel soon developed a complete psychotic break, and was institutionalized multiple times, before committing suicide.