New Views on the Psychodynamics of Schizophrenia

Although he reaffirms the importance of early life experiences in the development of schizophrenia, the author emphasizes the essential role played by later experiences involving what Freud called the secondary process. Preschizophrenic panic occurs when the archaic infantile thought process and its original content are reactivated by later conceptual conclusions, with a resulting unacceptable image of the self. The psychosis then becomes a defense against the terrifying and injurious self-image.