In this essay we discuss the symptoms of schizophrenia. The general discussion of schizophrenia as a mental disease takes up most of this essay. However, in the conclusion to the essay we argue that Carl Jung's psychology can describe schizophrenic symptoms by using its own terminology but that neither Jungian psychology (nor close psychoanalytical therapies) can cure the disease. The only solution seems to be hard-thinking, reality-thinking but certainly not an immersing of oneself into the unconscious.
[...] Jung's early work has terminology that can intellectually describe the experiencing of the schizophrenic condition. For example Jungians talk of complexes, dissociation, archetypes, unconscious, conflict, affects, ego. However, Jungian psychology (as well as Freudian psychoanalysis) has been well- established psychological schools for the past century. And therefore it is clear that they do not cure schizophrenia. We will return to this area in the conclusion. The symptoms of schizophrenia fall into three categories: psychotic, cognitive impairment, and negative. Sometimes psychotic and cognitive impairment symptoms are grouped into positive symptoms. [...]
[...] Conclusion Earlier in this essay we said that Carl Jung used terminology that adequately; (from an intellectual point of view) describes the schizophrenic condition. We noted that in Jung's early work he talked about the condition using the following terms complexes, dissociation, unconscious, conflict, affects, ego. ‘Complex' or ‘Complexes' is the key term because Jung referred to his early work as ‘Complex Psychology'. So what is Jung's early work (pre 1912) all about? i.e. his Complex Psychology. It's about the dissociability and repression of psychic contents. [...]
[...] If this dissociation is relative then we have an ego fighting for its supremacy. (hence a neurotic conflict). If the dissociation is absolute then irrational psychic contents absolutely drown ego consciousness. (psychosis). The more complexes one has the less one is able to function. The more powerful the complex is the more physical symptoms will parallel it. Moreover, complexes prevent the person from experiencing psycho-social health. For Jung these complexes arise when consciousness dissociates. “When consciousness disintegrates (abaissement du niveau mental, apperceptive weakness) the complexes coexisting with it are simultaneously freed from all restraint and are then able to break through into consciousness.”2 And “When we come to examine our psychic material (with the help of the association test for example), we find that practically every association belongs to some complex or other [ ] Their relation to the ego-complex is beyond all doubt. [...]
[...] The theory that schizophrenia is only inherited is refuted by the fact that if an identical twin develops schizophrenia, the other identical twin develops schizophrenia only 40% of the time,12 though the percentage remains the same regardless of whether the identical twins were raised together or separately. One study looked at a group of 97 adults who had been adopted people originally had a schizophrenic mother, while the other 50 people were born to mothers who did not suffer from schizophrenia. [...]
[...] Therefore, the third edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM III), which states the specific symptoms of each subtype, is used to diagnose the schizophrenic. In the late 1800s, the three types of schizophrenia were considered to be three distinct diseases of each other. Emil Kraeplin eventually realized that these diseases were similar and grouped them together as dementia praecox. A hebephrenic schizophrenic displays childish and bizarre behavior, and often has inappropriate outbursts, such as the fore-mentioned laughing during a funeral or crying during a funny movie. [...]
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