ABSTRACT
R. D. Laing described the schizoid experience as having an internal boundary splitting mind and body that precedes the boundary between self and other. There is an important distinction between depression, which could be seen as a sort of withdrawal of potentially destructive hate, and the schizoid position, which is the fear of loving lest one’s love or even need of love should destroy – which is far worse. The depressed person turns anger and aggression against himself and feels guilty; the schizoid person withdraws from the intolerable situation of desiring love, believing it to be impossible to have and believing that this impossibility is created by his very need for love itself. H. Guntrip points out that schizoid clients show little evidence – or at least awareness – of anger and guilt that might signal depression. The schizoid client’s dilemma is of craving for connection yet not being able to be intimate with or connected to another.
