More Simply Human Than Otherwise

Schizophrenic being is partly designed, according to Searles (1965), as a way of avoiding the realization that life is finite (inevitability of death). Poignantly, in describing his shift of emphasis which occurred at the twice-weekly case presentations at the now closed Chestnut Lodge Hospital in Rockville, Maryland, Searles noted:

“When I went there, the therapists-including myself-presenting these cases often tended to paint a totally, or almost totally, black picture of the patient’s childhood family relationships; the feeling-atmosphere of the presentation was one of blame of the parents more than anything else. As the years went on I found that the presentations came to convey less and less of such blame, and more and more of the tragedy of life for all of us that the presentation is often a profoundly grief-laden experience for both the presenter and the listeners. One feels that the staff-presentation now gives a truer picture of a patient’s life, but a picture much more deeply shaking than was the blame-coloured picture previously often seen” (pp. 489-490).

Brian Koehler