What is sigmund freuds theory on schizophrenia?

Answer 1

For many years now there has been a continuing and sustained criticism of Freud's (1911) hypothesis that the basic disorder in schizophrenia consists in the patient's inability to maintain the libidinal cathexis of objects. The fact that patients suffering from the two principal types of schizophrenia present signs of real and fantasy object relationships has been taken as evidence that the illness cannot be based on a decathexis of object representations. This contradiction is easily dispelled if account is taken of the real likelihood that these object relationships, which are mostly of a pathological kind, represent a spontaneous tendency towards recovery. They are therefore secondary to the primary disorder and a reaction to it.

In the original theory Freud (1911) described the flight of the libidinal cathexis from the love object in schizophrenia as a form of repression. After the introduction of the structural theory (Freud, 1923) he dropped the term 'repression'

Answer 2

Sigmund Freud's theory on schizophrenia was based on the idea that it was caused by unresolved internal conflicts from early childhood, particularly related to the individual's relationship with their mother. He believed that schizophrenia resulted from the inability to manage these conflicts, leading to disintegration of the ego and delusional thinking. Freud's psychoanalytic approach to schizophrenia has been largely criticized and is not widely accepted in the field of psychological research and practice.