The Truth About Schizophrenia

One night, while treading carefully through the thick of a forest, a man named Jack spots a strange shape in the sky; a shape that hovers through the air like a top spins on the ground. This relatively flat shape accelerates and decelerates more abruptly than any vehicle known to man. The grossly metallic pancake stops suddenly. It flashes a blindly bright beam of light that lands no more than a few yards away from Jack. Cautious, Jack approaches the cylinder light slowly. Out from the saucer fly little green humanoids with bulging black eyes, decrepitly slim bodies, and upside-down eggs for heads. The man runs to a group of sleeping campers to tell them the news.

Upon arriving at the area where the light sits, Jack points to the bizarre-looking green men. Puzzled, the campers squint their tired eyes to zone in on the green men. They fail to see the men. They also fail to see the light and saucer. The campers go back to their campsite and fall asleep. Jack is left alone with the green men. One of the humanoids charges toward Jack with an item that looks like an ax. Jack runs frantically to avoid being sliced. The humanoid moves faster than the human and tears the latter to pieces. The man becomes unconscious.

A day later, in one piece, the man wakes up in a hospital bed. Jack asks the doctor, “Did you fix me?” The doctor tells the bed-ridden man that he showed no injury upon being admitted to the hospital. How is this so? Did not the slender man from the unidentified flying object torture Jack with the sharp item? “No,” says the doctor. “This is a hospital for mentally ill patients. You have shown signs of having schizophrenia.”

What is schizophrenia? Per the definition provided by Mayo Clinic, “Schizophrenia is a serious mental disorder in which people interpret reality abnormally. Schizophrenia may result in some combination of hallucinations, delusions, and extremely disordered thinking and behavior that impairs daily functioning, and can be disabling.”

With the above classification in mind, what causes the illness? Some say genetics; others, hormonal imbalances. John Modrow, author of the book How to Become a Schizophrenic (1992), had a contrasting view with regards to the etiology of the illness. Modrow believed that schizophrenia is caused by nurture rather than nature; in other words, the environment. This mental illness is developed through training. What type of person is most likely to showcase symptoms of this mind virus? Those with drastically reduced self-esteem, said Modrow.

Indeed, unlike “normal” people, schizophrenics lack the self-deceptive ability to distort reality in a manner that prevents the diminishing of self-worth. The symptoms typically displayed by those with schizophrenia are the result of a fragile ego. However, according to Modrow, schizophrenia is not an organic brain disease. Rather, it is an emotional disturbance. There is nothing wrong with the intellectual faculties of a schizophrenic. Modrow used a case study named Paul to demonstrate this proposition. Paul wrote a paper for his brother-in-law who was attending a graduate institution to study geology. The paper that Paul wrote earned the in-law a solid A. A professor of the in-law inquired if the latter would consider doing a thesis on the paper.

Due to the failure to deploy sturdy ego defenses, the tragic schizophrenic is more vulnerable to being inflicted with emotional scars than the average person. But why does the schizophrenic lack these ego defenses in the first place? To discover the culprit of this deficiency, we must look no further than the origin of our schizophrenic – his profoundly disturbed family. Modrow mentioned two types of family dynamics that lay the foundation for a child to develop schizophrenia – schismatic and skewed.

In a schismatic family situation, both parents are distracted by their own respective personal difficulties to the extent that they neglect each other’s emotional needs. The father demonstrates to the child an attitude of degradation towards the mother. The mother reciprocates this pathological model of behavior towards the father. Both parents compete for the affection of the child.

On the other hand, the skewed family situation involves a mother that views the other members of her family not as separate individuals with their own needs, personalities, aspirations, hopes, and dreams; rather, this engulfing octopus of a mother sees her own tentacles upon looking at these members. Perceiving her children as nothing more than an extension of herself, this octopus fails to distinguish between her feelings and anxieties and those of said children.

Both the schismatic and skewed family dynamics stifle the psychic development of the child. The child subliminally recognizes that it must repress its feelings and developmental needs in order to numb the piercing anxiety of existing in the disturbed family. The child distorts his reality to assuage the pathological manifestations of his parents. This dedication towards creating an illusion leaves little room for the child to form a properly anchored ego. The energy expenditure of this pretense also drains the child of his vitality, turning him into a skeleton that is drained of emotion and a zest for life. His interests become narrower as he increasingly withdraws his libido from the world.

To treat a schizophrenic, stated Modrow, one must not label the psychotic as “sick,” since such a label only further withers the self-esteem of the subject. The author said that the label, “schizophrenia,” has done more harm to people than the illness itself. In order to heal a schizophrenic, one must foster the conditions that enable the strengthening of the schizophrenic’s ego. Once the schizophrenic’s self-worth becomes as robust as that of a “normal” person, his symptoms will melt away.

Modrow himself was a man who managed to recover from being a schizophrenic. He was a Seattle longshoreman as well as a philosophy graduate.

At this point of this post, we shall compare the author’s statements with observations made by a few psychoanalysts, namely the ones mentioned in the posts titled “The Ideal Personality” and “Integrate the Shadow”. Such psychologists have painstakingly examined the connections between the body and the mind. The mind reflects the body and vice versa.

Before the cross-examinations are made, it will be useful to provide a brief overview of three major types of humans: 1) self-regulated people, 2) neurotics, and 3) psychotics. The former two types are mentioned in the aforementioned posts. Self-regulated people are “natural humans” that don’t have to distort reality to function in it. People that are both self-regulated and civilized are rare; imagine looking for a sesame seed in a humongous pile of haystack. So-called “normal people” are neurotics. They must put up defenses to cope with reality. During the Neolithic Age and earlier periods of time, most people on this planet were self-regulated. Today, the great majority of people are neurotic. Psychotics include schizophrenics.

The differences between these three types of people can be identified by inspecting their bodies with respect to a form of neuromuscular restriction called armor. “Character armor” nullifies the sensation of pain. Take, for example, a one-year-old baby that is weaned too early. Deprived of the emotional connection that breastfeeding provides, the baby protests against its mother’s unnatural choice to deny the baby its rightful need for comfort. If the agony that the baby goes through persists, then it may suffer serious health problems. The muscles around the baby’s oral cavity (e.g. masseters, orbicularis oris) develop armor to suppress the pain of neglect. Once this armor becomes chronic, the emotional turmoil becomes unconscious. The same event takes place when babies are continually left alone in cribs at night, scared to death.

There exist seven segments of the body where armor can form – ocular, oral, cervical, thoracic, diaphragmatic, abdominal, and pelvic. These segments are outlined by a physician named Elsworth F. Baker in Man in the Trap (1967).

How is this armor arranged in each of the three types of people? The armor of the psychologically integrated self-regulated person is flexible and under the control of the ego. If the self-regulated person finds himself in an unpleasant situation, be it a boring speech or dangerous jungle, his ego will cause his body to temporarily armor itself. Once he can escape the situation, the ego removes the armor. The self-regulated person, for the most part, exists in an unarmored, orgastically potent state. An “orgastically potent” person has free-flowing energy that can reach its climax. The self-regulated person is graceful and energetic; flexible, yet coordinated; assertive, yet able to surrender to the harmonious flow of life.

The armor of the neurotic is chronic and fails to be wielded by the ego. Because of this chronic armor, the ability of the neurotic to adapt to a variety of scenarios is greatly reduced. The chronically armored human is out of touch with himself. The armor of the neurotic blinds him to the friction caused by the split between his ego and superego. In spite of limping through life, the neurotic is gravely unaware of the pain he has accumulated by not having his needs met. Not only that, but he is also incapable of fulfilling his needs no matter how hard he tries. The baby that grows up feeling unloved is the same person that will deploy unhealthy strategies to attain said love; acting needy, being controlling, manipulating events, etc. However, even if this person were to encounter blissful love, he would not be able to receive it fully.

The armor of psychotic individuals, including schizophrenics, is confined to the ocular segment of the body. Other than in this segment, the psychotic has no armor. Unlike that of the self-regulated person, the ego of the psychotic has no control over this consistent lack of armor. Therefore, with little armor to blunt pain, the psychotic is always at high risk for becoming emotionally bruised. Since psychotics have little ability to somatically defend themselves, these sensitive souls are prone to having low self-esteem. In contrast, the self-regulated person is in tune with the pulse of life; from this connection sprouts confidence. The blindness and self-deceptive measures of the neurotic allows him to be “well-adjusted” and navigate the world with pseudo-confidence at the expense of truth. The neurotic sleepwalks through life.

Why, for the most part, does the psychotic develop no armor? Chronic armor develops in a young organism if its biological and emotional needs fail to be met. Does not the psychotic come from a childhood in which he was poorly brought up? Of course he does, otherwise he would not have become psychotic in the first place. So why does he lack the ability to armor? Simple. He lacks the energy to armor himself. Armoring requires energy. The psychotic structure is a very low-energy structure. Why does the psychotic not produce sufficient energy? In Character Analysis (1933), psychoanalyst Wilhelm Reich stated that the energy metabolism of any psychotic structure had been ruined before said structure was born. A fetus trapped in the deadened uterus of an unconsciously rejecting mother must freeze its body like an opossum lest its body becomes the victim of the mother’s wrath.

The body of an organism acts as a conduit of energy. Energy flows into the body, and energy flows out of the body. The low-energy psychotic structure has little tolerance for highly charged current. Due to this, the schizophrenic has scant ability to derive pleasure from any environment. He feels joy only barely. When he walks outside and steps into the world, he sees gray everywhere; gray liquid, a gray cylinder, gray blobs of automatons. He looks up and sees a gray circular object that sits far away in space. He looks down and sees thin gray pointy objects that are useful only to be walked on. To experience any semblance of delight, he paints vivid and colorful imaginary worlds inside his head. Feeling little pleasure, he lives his life for the sole sake of basic survival.

It’s not uncommon for a psychotic to have loads of acquaintances and associates, but few, if any, close friends. Many psychotics are loners because they have trouble relating to other people. They tend to maintain only surface-level bonds with others.

Psychologically castrated though he is, the slumbering neurotic, unlike the psychotic, can soak in at least some pleasure from life. Upon entering the world he sees a river, a tree with leaves, and animals. He looks up and sees the deep blue sky and protects his eyes from the glaring sun. He looks down and sees the pretty green grass. He sees people and wants to interact with them. Seeking more pleasure, he takes part in life. He searches for meaning in life and tries to find his place in the world.

The integrated, healthy self-regulated person does not step outside his door when leaving his house. He floats above the heavenly white clouds and immerses his body in the heat of the fiery yellow pulsating ball of energy that breathes life into this very Earth. He lands on the ground and notices the shell of a serene snail that sleeps on the snug grass. His eyes follow the spiral on the shell as his nose takes in the crisp smell of the calm river. His head turns in the direction of the gentle breeze that flows around his face, eyeballing the branches of the tree that look no different than the roots of a lavender flower that provides shade to the peaceful snail. At night, his eyes appreciate the circular galaxies in the sky that look like the spirals of a mollusk’s shell. He sees the cosmic interconnectedness of life.

The orgastically potent self-regulated person ignores the search for meaning not because he is apathetic towards life. Quite the contrary. He lives his life with meaning, so has no need to search for it. In contrast, the “normal” neurotic person, with the eyes of a star-nosed mole and heart of a cynic, searches for any last shred of hope to justify his repressed, hypocritical existence. The eyes are indeed the windows of the soul; the ocean deep, tranquil, glowing, percipient, reflective, occasionally feral eyes of the luminescent self-regulated person; the flat, shallow, dull, vapid, often sadistic eyes of the superficial neurotic; as well as the ghostly, remote, mysterious, bottomless, hypnotic and sometimes crazy eyes of the cold psychotic.

The constitutional weakness of the schizophrenic structure, said Alexander Lowen in The Betrayal of the Body (1967), is the severely diminished ability to mobilize the body using aggression. In this context, to be aggressive means “to act towards.” The ability of the schizophrenic to constructively direct life energy (or thymos in Greek) is inhibited by the constriction of his muscles. Born from an emotionally cadaverous, inadequate mother, the schizophrenic carries this suffocating limitation from womb to tomb. He is fixated at the uterine level and makes no demands on life.

Lowen, like Modrow, also attributed the cementation of the psychotic structure to lackluster parenting. Lowen stated that the unconscious feelings, complexes, and identifications of parents have a more profound effect on their children than any parenting technique (e.g. timeouts/spankings, playdates, roughhousing). The mother of a pre-psychotic baby often behaves in an aloof and withdrawn fashion towards said baby. This emotional distance of the mother acts as a defense against incestuous feelings towards the child. In this case, the father has failed to fulfill the needs of the mother. Lowen observed that some psychotics have mothers who are sexually infantile and maternal grandmothers that hate sex and men. This aligns with Modrow’s implication that schizophrenia is often the result of defective parenting across three or four generations.

The solidification of schizophrenia in a pre-psychotic child can be prevented by the child’s father. If the child’s father can provide love and support to the child without undermining his own masculinity, then the pre-psychotic child will not become a schizophrenic, even if the preconditions required for the transformation remain intact. The father must be psychologically healthy, secure, strong, and benevolent. Unfortunately, more often than not, the fathers of such children are equally as disturbed as the mothers.

How, from Lowen’s perspective, can a psychotic recover from his illness? The psychotic must be willing to seek out Satan by peeling the layers of his psyche like an onion. At the core of the bulb festers a murderous rage toward the demonic octopus from which the psychotic was born – the same Kraken that zapped the life out of the psychotic. With the help of a mind-body healer, the psychotic must face the darkness and terror that lurks in his heart. Said healer must be secure and wise enough to contain the psychotic while the latter mentally regresses to earlier periods of his life. The healer needs to act as a substitute for the nurturing mother the psychotic never had. The psychotic person’s breathing must be deepened and his muscular motility must be regained.

Once the psychotic encounters Satan, the former must then wage war against the demon on the latter’s domain. However, the hell that lurks inside the heart of the psychotic is not the fiery underground landscape that is traditionally imagined. The hell that lurks inside the psychotic is a barren wasteland as cold as the surface of Pluto; a quiet wasteland without wind or snow. From the time he was conceived, the psychotic had never received true love, warmth, or sympathy from anyone; not his mother, not his father, not anybody. Any “love” he received was a hollow puff of air that served to disguise the nothingness inside it.

After the monster is defeated, something spectacular will occur, said Lowen. The ice that covers the land will begin to melt, the sky will begin to warm up, and flowers will begin to bloom. The slayer will cease to see any gray blobs. Vibrant colors will begin to appear. Soothing sounds will make themselves known as well. Sensations will begin to travel through the body of the slayer, finally providing him with the pleasure that was always out of his reach. The slayer will have finally shed his psychotic defenses.

But remember, the former psychotic couldn’t have slayed the ice-cold demon without the genuine warmth and care of the healer. Wise as a sage and warm as the sun, the healer finds great satisfaction in helping the slayer reclaim his life – the same life that was stolen from him before he was even born.

Schizophrenia need not be a permanent condition. It can be alleviated. However, the task of shedding psychosis is no easy matter. Psychosis itself is a defense against absolute madness – the same madness that could go on a rampage and kill hundreds of innocent bystanders. The schizophrenic must seek out the consul of a sage; a sage that is wise and patient; a sage that understands the dynamics of the mind-body connection; a sage that grasps the seriousness of the challenge.

Ultimately, psychoses, along with neuroses, are the result of child caretaking practices that are anti-human and anti-life. Life, by its very nature, is expansive. We humans have been frightened by life for thousands of years. Afraid to face themselves in the mirror, the vast majority of modern humans die thousands of deaths before passing away. They deaden their bodies by armoring themselves or withdrawing their libido.

The existence of schizophrenics and neurotics in a society is indicative of said society’s failure to embrace life. So far, the only societies that have welcomed life with open arms are the primitive nomadic and semi-nomadic societies.

The challenge we humans face today is in creating a pro-life, pro-human civilization that is simultaneously advanced. This tricky endeavor has yet to be accomplished. It could take tens of thousands of years to achieve.

Perhaps a sophisticated culture that fights for life instead of hiding from it will one day exist; a society where humans can simply be human, suffering no psychoses or neuroses.