Volume 3 Num. 2 - December 2003
The Schizoid Personality of Our Time [La Personalidad Esquizoide de Nuestro Tiempo]
Volume 3 Num. 2 - December 2003 - Pages 181-194
Authors:
Marino P?rez-?lvarez
Abstract:
The schizoid personality is proposed as the basic structure of the personality of modern culture and, from there, as the model (formal cause) of schizophrenia. It is understood that schizophrenia is the form of ?insanity? typical of modern culture, with relative differences, depending on precisely what the basic form of being a person is in the culture of reference. The schizoid personality is characterized based on a fundamental lack of harmony as a vital principle of his being. His distant attitude, his emotional coldness, his peculiar autism and his divided self (when such is the case) are understandable from this perspective. According to this characterization, the schizoid personality is not assumed to be a personality disorder, as usually dealt with. Its cultural roots, which are to be found in the self/world disconnection and inner self/outer self uncoupling, so typical of modernity, are pointed out below. Certain ways of communicating, as examples of situations in which the best you can do is ?to become schizoid?, are also pointed out. The conclusion arrived at is that the schizoid personality establishes an essential similarity between modern culture and schizophrenia. Finally, the transition from schizoid personality to schizophrenia is shown, locating the critical point in certain vicissitudes in the person?s upbringing. Specifically, the common feeling of global crisis and the abnormal experience of self consisting of hyperreflexivity and solipsism are noted. If the schizoid personality were the formal cause, this crisis would be the material cause of schizophrenia. Along this line, clinicians would be seen as an efficient cause of the form that the disorder ends up taking. However this may be, the disorder also has its final cause in the adaptive effort of the person.
Key words:
Aristotelian causes, dandy, squizoid personality, schizophrenia
Full Article
More articles in this volume
- [111-140] Schizophrenia: A Conceptual History [Esquizofrenia: Una Historia Conceptual]
- [141-152] The Diagnosis of Schizophrenia: Old Wine in New Bottles [El Diagn?stico de la Esquizofrenia: Vino Viejo en Botellas Nuevas]
- [153-180] ?Negative Symptoms?, Schizophrenia, and the Self ["S?ntomas Negativos", Esquizofrenia, y el Yo]
- [195-208] Social and Personality Variables Related to the Origin of Auditory Hallucinations [Variables Sociales y de Personalidad Relacionadas con el Origen de las Alucinaciones Auditivas]
- [209-234] Consciousness Disorders in Schizophrenia: A Forgotten Land for Psychopathology [Trastornos de Conciencia en Esquizofrenia: Una Tierra Olvidad para la Psicopatolog?a]
- [251-266] Latent Inhibition as a Model of Schizophrenia: From Learning to Psychopathology [La Inhibici?n Latente Como Modelo de la Esquizofrenia: Del Aprendizaje a la Psicopatolog?a]
- [267-281] Early Intervention in Schizophrenia [Intervenci?n Temprana en Esquizofrenia]
- [283-298] Psychiatric Rehabilitation for Schizophrenia [Rehabilitaci?n Psiqui?trica de la Esquizofrenia]
- [299-310] Application of the IPT in a Spanish Sample: Evaluation of the ?Social Perception Subprogramme" [Aplicaci?n del IPT en una Muestra Espa?ola: Evaluaci?n del "Subprograma de Percepci?n Social"]
- [311-328] Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Psychosis [Terapia de Aceptaci?n y Compromiso en Psicosis]
