The Intrafamilial Environment of the Schizophrenic Patient^*

Schizophrenia and the Family A Survey of the Literature 1956–1960 on the Etiology of Schizophrenia

“…The father, who has, for a long time, been the forgotten figure in the studies, seems to be as frequently and severely disturbed as the mother (19,26,59,62). This focus on the father is in line with the accent the authors (L id z e t a l .)…”

“…The basically weak and ineffectual father is a type that is frequently en countered in the family o f the schizophrenic patient. At time he is aloof, totally foreign and isolated in the family (" an apologetic mouth-piece o f his w ife" ), at times he continuously demands satis faction o f his own enormous narcissistic needs (59). This leads to a pattern o f intense competitive rivalry with his own children, which, in its turn, is a contributing factor to the blurring o f the lines between the generations.…”

Factors Related to Outcome of Schizophrenia: A Prospective Study

“…Of all the numerous factors collected on the characteristics of the home background and the parents, none showed differences even approaching significance. This is meaningful when the numerous reports on abnormalities in family background are considered ( 8,11 ) . Of course this difference could mean that in a routine admission to hospital, the psychiatrist is not adequately informed on the intimate details of the family background.…”

“…This clearly shows up in the rising readmission rates (11). However, this error would be common to schizophrenia and the other diagnostic categories.…”

The Revolution and Evolution of Family Therapy and Family Psychology

“…At least four major research groups launched scientific investigations regarding the role of the family in the development of schizophrenia in one of its members. In addition to Bateson's project, Theodore Lidz at Yale (Lidz, Cornelison, Fleck, & Terry, 1957), Murray Bowen (1960) at the National Institute of Mental Health, and later, succeeding Bowen at NIMH, the group led by Lyman Wynne (Wynne, Ryckoff, Day, & Hirsch, 1958) were all beginning to study the impact of family dysfunction on the appearance of schizophrenia in a family member. By 1957, these researchers met at the national convention of the American Orthopsychiatric Association, and family psychology studies took on a more cohesive form as researchers exchanged views and visited each other's facilities (Broderick & Schrader, 1991).…”