ABSTRACT
Ferenczi's diagnosis of Severn's psychiatric condition is clearly stated in his Clinical Diary where, in his January 12, 1932 entry, he said: "Case of Schizophrenia Progression." In the 1930s, when the Clinical Diary was written, the prevailing idea was that schizophrenia was a progressive disease. It was thought that over time a patient with schizophrenia will show behavior and brain deterioration. This issue is still being debated. Recently in a research symposium the results indicated that schizophrenia does not have a negative trajectory in either brain functioning and symptomology. Kahn expressed the conclusion that perhaps a subgroup of people who are diagnosed as schizophrenic show decreasing brain volume and do worse symptomatically, but it is not so for the group as a whole. The description of Severn's psychological problems, her unsuccessful attempts at therapeutic help, the desperate emotional state in which she lived, combined to create great difficulties for her.
