The schizophrenic and the paranoid process.

Abstract

Data are presented in support of an understanding of schizophrenic and paranoid processes as operating relatively independently in the formation and deformation of human personality. The schizophrenic process derives from a genetically determined diathesis in combination with a range of factors involving environmental stress. The effects of the schizophrenic process in the organization and integration of internal structure and the differentiation of psychic functions are found at multiple levels, including negative consequences for the integration between cognitive and affective capacities, between conceptual and perceptual functions, and in the integration and stabilization of psychic structures. The schizophrenic process is envisioned as having disorganizing and disruptive effects on different levels of psychic organization, including the levels of the organization of cognitive processes, the formation and integration of representational systems (both self and object, and the structural integration of the self-system. In contrast, the paranoid process is thought to operate in the shaping and internal patterning of the personality organization, particularly by way of crucial forms of internalization. The interaction of introjection and projection shapes the individual's self-organization and contributes to the quality of interaction with significant objects. The impact of the paranoid process in both its positive function of contributing to the building up and integration of a meaningful and constructive sense of self and capacity for psychological functioning, as well as its deviant forms of expression in the development of paranoid pathology, is discussed. Although the schizophrenic and paranoid processes operate relatively independently, their interaction and intermingling contributes to the spectrum of forms of psychopathology that characterize the schizophrenic spectrum.