ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN AGGRESSIVE ACTIVATION, SYMBIOTIC MERGING, INTACTNESS OF BODY BOUNDARIES, AND MANIFEST PATHOLOGY IN SCHIZOPHRENICS

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Abstract
Sixty relatively differentiated schizophrenics were seen individually for three sessions. In each session, a base line assessment first was made of the amount of manifest psychopathology and the degree to which ego boundaries were intact. Then, on different days in counterbalanced order, in one group Ss were subliminally exposed to pictures containing: 1) aggressive content; 2) neutral content; 3) content suggesting the theme of symbiotic merging. The other group was shown the same stimuli, but at a supraliminal level. Then, for both groups, there followed a “critical” assessment of manifest pathology and body boundary intactness. The Ss in the subliminal group responded to both the aggressive and merging stimuli with changes in both manifest pathology and body boundary intactness, while the Ss in the supraliminal group were unaffected by the two kinds of stimulation. Also, the reaction of the subliminal group, under both experimental conditions, varied as a function of whether the Ss were assessed soon after stimulation or after a somewhat longer period of time had elapsed, this being seen as bearing on the variability of schizophrenic behavior. These results were discussed with the aim of elucidating the motivational state underlying changes in manifest pathology and body boundary intactness.

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