Social efficacy in the reintegration of the self

Abstract

Freud discounted that persons living with schizophrenia could benefit from psychoanalysis because they were incapable of attaining insight. Departing from classical Freudian psychodynamic theory, Heinz Kohut formulated a theory of self psychology to give a prominent place to the development of the self in an interactional field. Using the interactional field, Harry Stack Sullivan applied relational theory in his work with schizophrenics. Now, drawing on Kohut’s theory and Sullivan’s pioneering work, the author retrospectively analyzes the interactional fields and processes observed in her groupwork with older adults with schizophrenia residing in long-term care. Data on psychosocial interventions for older adults with schizophrenia are lacking. This article underscores the need for addressing this gap in the research.