The Schizophrenogenic Mother Concept and the TAT

Meyer, Robert G.; Karon, Bertram P.

doi:10.1080/00332747.1967.11023505

Cited by 25 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The findings relating certain parental behavior to social class and social class co identifiable TAT themes suggest that social class may be related to che notion of "pathogenesis" offered by Karon ( 1963), Meyer and Karon ( 1967), and Mitchell (1968). The purpose of the present study was to test the hypothesis that social class would be related to "pathogenesis."…”

mentioning

confidence: 87%

“…According to Karon, the aim of the mother's covert manipulation is chat the child accept ~~ncr~trcally her view of reality rather than trust his own experience. The covert nanire of the mother's demands and her ambivalence lead to her child's inability to distinguish her motives from his and to his seriously impaired ego functioning.Two recent studies (Meyer & Karon, 1967;Mitchell, 1968) used the TAT to assess the concept of the schizophrenogenic mother offered by Karon. They found that the TAT stories told by mothers of schizophrenic and mothers of normal children differed markedly.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Two recent studies (Meyer & Karon, 1967;Mitchell, 1968) used the TAT to assess the concept of the schizophrenogenic mother offered by Karon. They found that the TAT stories told by mothers of schizophrenic and mothers of normal children differed markedly. Mothers of schizophrenic children produced significantly more TAT stories than mothers of normal children in which the dominant individual either ignored expressed needs of the dependent individual or took from the dependent individual when their needs conflicted.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Social Class and the Schizophrenogenic Mother Concept

Mitchell

1969

Psychol Rep

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

S~~mnzary.-The T A T was administered to 26 mothers of schizophrenic children and 26 mothers of normal children. Both mothers and children were matched on a number of variables. Ss within each group were categorized as upper, middle or working class. Each story was judged pathogenic, benign, or unscorable by rwo clinicians. A parhogentc score was tabulated for each S from the formula: pathogenic/pathogenic plus benign. The main effect of children's diagnosis and the interaction of diagnosis and social class significantly influenced the type of story. Karon ( 1963 ) has conceprualized the schizophrenogenic mother as one who, when the needs of mother and child conflict, will indirectly satisfy her needs by manipulating her child in such a way that his behavior satisfies her needs. According to Karon, the aim of the mother's covert manipulation is chat the child accept ~~ncr~trcally her view of reality rather than trust his own experience. The covert nanire of the mother's demands and her ambivalence lead to her child's inability to distinguish her motives from his and to his seriously impaired ego functioning.Two recent studies (Meyer & Karon, 1967;Mitchell, 1968) used the TAT to assess the concept of the schizophrenogenic mother offered by Karon. They found that the TAT stories told by mothers of schizophrenic and mothers of normal children differed markedly. Mothers of schizophrenic children produced significantly more TAT stories than mothers of normal children in which the dominant individual either ignored expressed needs of the dependent individual or took from the dependent individual when their needs conflicted. The authors in both studies termed these stories "pathogenic," and concluded char, regardless of the direction of causation, the concept of the schizophrenogenic mother is valid.Other studies indicate that identifiable themes in TAT stories appear to be relared to social class. McArthur ( 1955) found that middle-class Ss at Harvard University told TAT stories which reflected greater autonomy needs and more ambition and work involvement than upper-class Ss. On the other hand, upperclass Ss were more oriented toward the past and family values. In a study of mid-

show abstract

mentioning

confidence: 87%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Social Class and the Schizophrenogenic Mother Concept

Mitchell

1969

Psychol Rep

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…You couldn't admit it, even to yourself; you couldn't escape either, so your way out was to go crazy.' The 'schizophrenogenic mother', a term coined by Frieda FrommReichmann, was enjoying great currency in American psychiatric thinking (Hartwell, 1996;Meyer and Karon, 1967;Neill, 1990).…”

Section: Mandymentioning

confidence: 99%

Forty-five years of schizophrenia: personal reflections

Seeman

2006

Hist Psychiatry

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

International audienceViews about schizophrenia can change dramatically, even within one lifetime. In order to illustrate such changes over the last forty-five years, this article uses the example of ‘Mandy', a composite woman patient with a diagnosis of schizophrenia. It shows that, although there have been many advances over this period, understanding of schizophrenia continues to be elusive, and treatments remain imperfect. Therefore, as perspectives shift and the ground moves beneath us, the psychiatric profession needs to anchor itself firmly in the stories our patients tell us

show abstract

Relationship between differential levels of parental “pathogenesis” and male children's diagnoses

Mitchell¹

1974

J. Clin. Psychol.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

PROBLEMKaren's'') conceptualization of the "pathogenic" relationship between the male schizophrenic child and his mother appears to have received empirical support in several studies ( * * 3 , 4 , in which ('pathogenesis" was defined operationally, through the use of the TAT, as an interaction between two persons in which the dominant individual either ignores the expressed needs of the dependent individual or meets his own needs a t the expense of the dependent individual. I n each case, mothers of male schizophrenic children told a significantly greater proportion of "pathogenic" stories than matched controls.The purpose of this study was to extend the concept of "pathogenesis" t o male delinquency. METHOD'The Ss were five sets of parents of normal, delinquent, and schizophrenic boys. Both children and parents were matched on the basis of age, sex, education, and social class. The schizophrenic children were so diagnosed on the bases of interviews by two or more psychiatrists and psychological tests. The deiinquent children were referred by a court or legal agency for such specific behaviors as car theft and promiscuity. The normal children were nominated by classroom teachers.TAT stories were tape recorded, later typed on separate sheets of paper and presented randomly to the author, a clinical psychologist with approximately 5 years of experience, who blindly classified all stories that involved an interaction between two persons as (a) "pathogenic" or (b) "benign". "Pathogenic" stories were defined above. When the dominant person met or simply acknowledged the needs of the dependent person, the story was scored "benign" (B). Half of the randomized stories were similarly scored by a second judge, an advanced graduate studcnt in clinical psychology. A "pathogenic" score was tabulated for each S according to the formula: P/P + B, when P is the number of stories judged "pathogenic" and B the number of stories judged "benign". RESULTSInterscorer reliability for the two judges as measured by the Pearson productmoment correlation was .79. Table 1 indicates the mean "pathogenic" scores attributed by Judge I to the three groups of parents. T-tests for matched pairs indicated that both the mothers of the delinquent and normal boys told a significantly smaller proportion of "pathogenic" storics than did the mothers of the schizophrenic boys (t = 2.90, p . < .05; 1 = 2.60, p < .05, respectively). Table 1 shows that the mothers of the delinquent and normal boys told essentially the same praportion of "pathcgenic" stories.Further t-tests for matched pairs indicated that the three groups of fathers did not differ significantly from each other. However, Table 1 shows that the fathers of the delinquent and schizophrenic boys told almost the same proportion of "patho-*The author is grateful to Martha Werner, Section on Twin and Sibling Studies, Adult Psychiatry Branch, NIMH, and her colleagues for making the TAT stories available to him.

show abstract

The Schizophrenogenic Mother Concept and the TAT

Cited by 25 publications

References 0 publications

Social Class and the Schizophrenogenic Mother Concept

Social Class and the Schizophrenogenic Mother Concept

Forty-five years of schizophrenia: personal reflections

Relationship between differential levels of parental “pathogenesis” and male children's diagnoses

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About