Grief, guilt, and identification in siblings of schizophrenic individuals

In the literature on siblings of schizophrenic individuals, recurrent experiential themes include guilt feelings, a fear of madness in oneself, and a wish to escape the turbulence that surrounds the schizophrenic person. In psychotherapy conducted by the author with three siblings of schizophrenic individuals, the siblings manifested sadness, guilt, identification with the schizophrenic brother or sister, and manic-defensive externalization as aspects of their survivor predicament. The suitability of the schizophrenic individual as a target of externalization and the significance of defeated parents to the survivor sibling are discussed.