Psychological Processes in the Schizophrenic Adaptation

Abstract

This volume represents the results of an inquiry into what is going on psychologically in a schizophrenic patient. The author, a distinguished Rorschach investigator, classifies schizophrenia into four reaction types designated core, dream, sanctuary, and transition. Two classifications of children are also added. At this point, the reviewer can merely fall back on the oft-quoted Shakespearean lines: That which we call a rose/ By any other name... Obviously, the core and dream schizophrenias signify the classical nuclear or ingrained forms of the disease, or kraeplinian dementia praecox. The sanctuary and transition forms are better integrated in ego structure and display a firmer hold on reality. These are presumably schizophreniform illnesses, with better prognosis. A total of 170 symptoms or behavior patterns, classified under five areas—defenses, intellectual functioning, fantasy activity, emotional state, and social adaptations—are measured by the Rorschach method (and by clinical evaluation) and assigned a quantitative rating from 0