The painful “multiplicity”: schizophrenia

This article highlights the notion of imbalance in schizophrenia and proposes a representation with two axis. The vertical axis underlines the fragility of the ego complex, attributable to the fragmentation of the ego. In response to the loss of personal identity, the psyche compensates with a new identity rooted in the archetypal realm. On the horizontal axis, one observes a grandiose identification, compensated by negative hallucinations. At the clinical level, these representations help the analyst to support the projective identification lived in the intersubjective field. Through containment provided by the therapist, the patient may retrieve his lost identity and improve his / her quality of life and learn to live with his disease.