Schizoid Type

- Between withdrawal and genius

Causal Conditioning

• Schizoid conditioning often begins very early – sometimes even before birth.
• If the mother is hostile, rejects the child, or even tries to abort, the child experiences an existential threat.
• There is a lack of safety, joy, and security.
• Even in childhood, **withdrawal, daydreams, nightmares, and anxiety manifest – sometimes even autistic traits.
• The dominant feelings are panic fear and blind rage.

Energetic State

• The energy is stagnant and frozen internally.
• The outer body parts – face, hands, feet, genitals – hold back contact with the world.
• Chronic tensions at the base of the head, shoulders, pelvis, and hips block the energy flow.
• Impulses arise only weakly – but if they break through, they can be explosive.
• There is an energetic split between the upper and lower halves of the body.

Physical Characteristics

• The body appears narrow, cramped, and contracted.
• Tensions reside in the joints and small muscles – especially around the speech organs.
• Joints are either extremely stiff or hypermobile.
• The body line is often broken – with shifts between left and right, top and bottom.
• The head and posture are crooked, movements appear mechanical and uncoordinated.
• Hands and feet are often cold and cramped.
• The face is mask-like, the eyes empty and absent.
• The skin appears waxy and translucent.

Psychological Patterns

• The greatest fear is loss of identity – the fear of dissolving in contact with others.
• The sense of self is weak; contact with one's own body and feelings is reduced.
• The personality is often split – between opposing poles like arrogance and inferiority.
• These internal contradictions are difficult to integrate.
• Extreme sensitivity arises due to the weak ego boundary – often accompanied by defense mechanisms.
• Intimate relationships are difficult or avoided: »If I allow closeness, my existence is threatened.«
• Actions mostly originate from the head: »My head is my being.«
• Reality is often replaced by fantasy – with little contact with the environment.
• Isolation is a protective mechanism: »I can exist as long as I don't need closeness.«
• Compensations:
1. Exceptional achievements – artists, geniuses – as a search for identity.
2. Extreme experiences – mountaineering, car racing, drugs – to feel themselves.
• Identity:
1. Quickly changing, like a chameleon.
2. Clear today, lost tomorrow.
• Sleeping/Waking:
1. Transitions between states are threatening – falling asleep and waking up are difficult.
• Sexuality:
1. Little energy in the genitals, but high capacity for ecstasy.
2. Hardly any genital orgasm, often fantasies (»Mind-Fuck«).
3. It's more about charging and dissolving than discharging.
• Strengths (when patterns are resolved):
1. Versatility, craziness, fantasy, depth, sensitivity, flexibility, role-playing, access to other realities.
• Typical Complaints: Joint problems, migraine, substance abuse, kidney/bladder problems, vision problems, circulatory disorders.

Therapy Goals

• The most important goal: Developing a sense of self – through body contact and trust.
• The client should be given space to experience their extreme inner parts – without having to integrate them immediately.
• The aim is to get to the core – the fear of annihilation – and to live and accept it. A positive emptiness can emerge from this.
• Helpful:
1. Everything that brings them into the here and now: massage, bodywork, movement, Tai Chi, active meditation.
2. Body exercises require patience – small steps are important.
• The Schizoid Type must be »melted« – direct confrontation rarely works.
• A skillful, empathetic approach is better – almost like seduction.
• Prerequisites for any therapy:
1. Trust, security, the feeling of being truly accepted.