Psychoanalysis and schizophrenia: a cautionary tale.

The history of psychoanalysis and schizophrenia is used as an example of psychoanalytic theories of etiology that have not stood the test of time. Those theories pointed to three main factors: very serious inadequacies in the caretaking person; the presence of these inadequacies so early, during the preverbal period, that they led to the impairment of early object relations, the development of psychic structure, and basic ego functions; and the absence of underlying biological abnormalities. Today, many analysts are still reluctant to acknowledge biological etiological factors for other psychiatric conditions.

Cocaine enhances the expression of fear-potentiated startle: evaluation of state-dependent extinction and the shock-sensitization of acoustic startle.

Cocaine's effects on fear extinction and on the shock-sensitization of acoustic startle were examined. Following fear acquisition, rats exposed to the nonreinforced conditioned stimulus (CS) after cocaine administration demonstrated significant levels of fear-potentiated startle when evaluated in the drug-free state. The CS also increased startle amplitudes in subjects extinguished and tested with cocaine, indicating that mechanisms other than state-dependent learning are involved in the extinction deficit.

The effects of ventral tegmental administration of GABAA, GABAB and NMDA receptor agonists on medial forebrain bundle self-stimulation.

Using a conditioned discrimination ICSS paradigm, rate-current intensity functions were determined for both reward- and nonreward-associated responding for electrical self-stimulation of the MFB following intra-VTA infusion of baclofen, muscimol and N-methyl-D,L-aspartate (NMDLA). A low dose (0.064 microgram/0.

The deficit syndrome in schizophrenia: psychoanalytic and neurobiological perspectives.

The author summarizes recent advances in neurobiological research which appear to offer compelling evidence that the most pathognomonic feature of schizophrenia, the deficit or negative syndrome, is associated with functional abnormalities in the frontal lobe of the brain. These brain abnormalities are correlated with those conceptualized by psychoanalytic theories of withdrawal of libido and loss of mental representation. In the light of this data, the author expresses serious reservations about three psychoanalytic formulations concerning the causes of the deficit syndrome: (1) the syndrome represents, in a primary rather than a secondary way, a psychological defense; (2) it is caused by severe conflicts or neglect during early childhood which lead to impairments in the building up of psychic structure and mental representation; (3) difficulties with the aggressive drive play a primary etiological role.

Psychoanalytic concepts of the etiology of severe mental illness.

In this paper I challenge some prevalent psychoanalytic concepts of the etiology and pathogenesis of severe mental illness which I believe to be in need of revision. There is insufficient evidence to conclude that the etiology of the two major adult psychoses, schizophrenia and manic-depressive illness, can be attributed to failures in development or fixations during the earliest years of life. Furthermore, I believe it incorrect to ascribe these failures of development to deficiencies in the early maternal environment.