Notes on some schizoid mechanisms*

This chapter suggests a close connection between the manic-depressive and schizoid disorders, based on the interaction between the infantile schizoid and depressive positions. The infant's capacity to overcome temporary schizoid states is in keeping with the strong elasticity and resilience of the infantile mind. Another typical feature of schizoid object relations is their narcissistic nature which derives from the infantile introjective and projective processes. For if persecutory fear, and correspondingly schizoid mechanisms, are too strong, the ego is not capable of working through the depressive position. This in turn forces the ego to regress to the schizoid position and reinforces the earlier persecutory fears and schizoid phenomena. Though the schizoid mechanisms imply a dispersal of emotions including anxiety, these dispersed elements persist in the patient's mind. Some fluctuations between the schizoid and the depressive position always occur and are part of normal development.