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Hostility and psychotic symptoms

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Summary

The view that schizophrenic symptoms are an attempt to keep in a latent form certain intensely hostile impulses, is examined in this study. It is supported by experiences gained in intensive, individual, analytically-oriented psychotherapy with six schizophrenic patients.

The principles governing therapy and the relevant case history data are described.

The patterns of response which recurred regularly during therapy and were considered significant are noted as follows:

Particularly severe, hostile feelings appeared progressively as the symptoms seen in the early interviews receded with therapy.

When the symptoms reappeared prominently during therapy, the overt hostility diminished.

After hostility became overt and dissipated within the therapeutic situation, the symptoms were lessened considerably.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Bedford Veterans Administration Hospital, Bedford, Mass.

    Felix Cohen M. D.

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  1. Felix Cohen M. D.
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Additional information

From the Veterans Administration Hospital, Bedford, Mass. The writer is grateful for the assistance which he received from Dr. L. J. Reyna and Dr. Daniel H. Funkenstein in the preparation of this paper.

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Cohen, F. Hostility and psychotic symptoms. Psych Quar 28, 264–278 (1954). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01567050

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01567050

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