---
title: "Interpretation of Schizophrenia"
chunk: 5/5
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"
---

== Self-image of the schizophrenic ==
According to Arieti, the pre-schizophrenic person in early childhood fails to build a healthy self-image, being unable to assert themselves in a healthy manner against their primary caregivers, as the dominant, narcissistic and hostile parent allows the child no chance to build up healthy limits and distinctions between themselves and the parent. The dominant parent sees the child less as an individual being, and more as an extension of themselves. The passive parent who projects their hostility from the dominant parent will also thwart such attempts. This is further complicated if other family members also take part in maintaining this atmosphere of hostility. Frequently the child who later becomes schizophrenic is either the dominant parent's favorite child, on whom the dominant parent depends for their self-esteem and self-gratification, or the family scapegoat who sits at the bottom of the family hierarchy, who is used as a lightning rod for discharging hostility within the family both by siblings and by the parents.
All children have an internal need to see their parents in a positive light, as the child depends on the parents for survival, even if the parental behavior is destructive to the child's self-esteem. In most cases the parental internal images can be corrected if the individual manages to build up healthy, emphatic relationships outside the family nucleus later in life, such as at school, at work, etc. However, for pre-schizophrenics, this does not occur, so the internal parental images remain unchallenged. So the child will idealize the hostile parents, but to do this, he must balance this out by maintaining a negative self-image. However, this self-image is too anxiety-provoking, so it remains dissociated deep down in the subconscious throughout the life of the individual, until adverse life events reactivate this hidden self-image, and with it, the destructive anxiety associated with it.

== Psychotherapy of the schizophrenic ==
Arieti himself preferred intensive psychotherapy of acute schizophrenic patients, with almost daily sessions every day of the week. He believed that in order to help reduce the suffering of the schizophrenic and to help them regain contact with the real world, the therapist needed to provide a trustworthy, intimate and stable relationship to the patient, a person who themselves never experienced such a relationship before. Unlike most psychiatrists, Arieti, like Sullivan and Bertram Karon, valued the content of the delusions as essential, albeit distorted manifestations of the original complexes by which the patient's destructive anxiety is fueled. He believed that meeting the schizophrenic in their own world, but not conforming with or reassuring their delusions was essential to gaining the trust of the patient, and building a healthy connection.
He believed that by providing a stable and loving relationship, the therapist can help the patient build up a more positive self-image, as well as gain more adequate coping mechanisms for dealing with life events, and even building up more healthy relations with the family members. For Arieti, it was essential to help the patient develop a new, more healthy personality that was better adjusted to life, than to return to the pre-psychotic personality of the patient. As treatment progresses, the patient will more easily let go of their delusions and distortions of reality, allowing the original complexes that fueled their anxiety to be re-examined and processed. The goal of the therapist is to help guide the patient through the development of this new personality, by providing them with a positive, reassuring and empathic internal image. Arieti himself showcases his psychotherapeutic method with two cases, the cases of Geraldine and Mark in Interpretation of Schizophrenia.

== Other treatment methods ==
Arieti was known for frequently sending hebephrenic patients for electroconvulsive therapy in order to restore them to a more functional level where they can be reached with psychotherapy, and he himself approved of the use of anti-psychotic medication to reduce symptomatology, however he himself preferred psychotherapy without any medication. He also explores and discusses other methods of treatment, such as insulin shock therapy and psychosurgery, the latter of which he disapproves, maintaining that it is essentially an act of giving up on the patient and resorting to turning him into a lifelong cripple.

== Closing remarks ==
Arieti maintains that in every case of schizophrenia that he studied serious family disturbance was found.  When the patient idealizes the parent the idealized image of the parent is maintained in the patient's mind at the expense of an unbearable self-image. Pre-psychotic panic is only triggered when the negative self-image is brought to the surface by adverse life events that damage the inner self of the pre-schizophrenic person, life events with which he is unable to cope with his existing defensive and coping mechanisms. The split-off negative image of the parents, and of others are transformed into a "distressing other", in the form of delusions of persecution, and voices heard by the patient. The parent or parents alters enter the mind accusing the patient of "bad child" or other equivalent accusations in voices that the adult patient hears.
Since the 1980s, and into the beginnings of 21st century, biological psychiatric models of schizophrenia almost completely took over the psychiatric profession.  Current research into the disorder focuses on neurobiology.  Psychological approaches to schizophrenia like Arieti's are a rarity in the profession, although this structurally created circumstance neglects the obvious connection between psychological phenomena and neurotransmitter levels, which can be changed through certain practices, like Yoga, meditation, hyperventilation, sensory deprivation, sleep deprivation, among others. Arieti's views on schizophrenia are nowadays known as part of the trauma model of mental disorders, an alternative to the current biopsychiatric model.

== See also ==
R.D. Laing
Refrigerator mother
Ross Institute for Psychological Trauma
The Gene Illusion
Schizophrenia compared to dream
Trauma model of mental disorders
Biopsychiatry controversy
Silvano Arieti

== References ==

== External links ==
Schizo's Web by Harrison Mujica-Jenkins
The International Psychotherapy Institute - Free E-Book