ABSTRACT
THE psychologically healthy individual is able to establish and maintain satisfactory relationships with people. Although maladaptive interpersonal relationships of various kinds mark neurotic as well as schizophrenic disturbances, schizophrenia is distinctively characterized by a withdrawal from object relatedness. Theorists following in the tradition of Sullivan and Cameron (see pp. 10–12) interpret schizophrenia primarily as a social disorder determined by inadequate channels for interpersonal communication. Will (1961), for example, ascribes considerable psychogenetic significance in schizophrenia to ineffective techniques for dealing with anxieties engendered by social situations. The person who as a result of unfortunate learning experiences fails to develop such techniques, says Will, experiences an inordinate amount of anxiety in his interactions with people and is likely to protect himself by withdrawing from the human environment.
