Journal of Psychology & Psychotherapy
Open Access
ISSN: 2161-0487
ISSN: 2161-0487
Wilfried Ver Eecke
Georgetown University. Washington, DC 20057, USA
Scientific Tracks Abstracts: J Psychol Psychother
I will argue against the official position of the American Psychiatric Association that: “There is a strong contribution for genetic factors in determining the risk for schizophrenia.” The sentence continues by saying: “although most individuals who have been diagnosed with schizophrenia have no family history of psychosis” (DSM-V-TR, p. 103). Thus, the facts reported by DSM-V-TR contradict the stated belief. I will argue that schizophrenia is the result of a lack of development of the patient as a child. Originally the child is totally dependent to the mother. This total dependence is not acceptable to a consciousness. Hence the child creates an imaginary solution based on the illusion that the child is everything to the mother. Hence the child can be assured that it will be cared for. This illusion is normally corrected if a father figure enters the psychic life of the child. When that illusion is not corrected then the child, as an adolescent, is vulnerable for a schizophrenic breakdown if an adult behaving as a protective mother puts limits on the adolescent which such an adolescent cannot deal with. I give the example of Hölderlin, the famous German poet, who had a schizophrenic breakdown when his promotor and protector, Schiller, declined Hölderlin’s request for financial support for starting his own journal. Finally, I will describe three approaches to heal persons afflicted by schizophrenia: the approach by Prouty, by Karon and by Villemoes. I make use of Lacan’s theory to explain the effectiveness of these three approaches.
Wilfried Ver Eecke is Professor of Philosophy at Georgetown University, Washington, DC since 1967. He specializes in Hegel, philosophy of psychoanalysis and philosophy of economics. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Leuven (Belgium) in 1966, did doctoral and post-doctoral work in Paris, Freiburg/i Br (Germany), Harvard and Bonn/Cologne (Germany). He published nine books and more than one hundred articles. His publications have appeared in eleven languages.