Schizophrenic and borderline patients: introjection, relationship to mother and symptoms

The main question of this study is: how does the psychiatrist's view of schizophrenic and borderline patients according to DSM-III relate to the patients' view of themselves in terms of their introjection ratings and their self-reported symptoms? For schizophrenic patients there is a great discrepancy between how they see themselves and how psychiatrists describe them. These patients have a most serious psychiatric diagnosis but their introjection ratings are not different from normal ratings and they also rate low levels of symptoms. Two different ways of understanding the schizophrenic patients' normal ratings are discussed. For the borderline group, the psychiatrist's view corresponds well with the patients' self-ratings. The psychiatrist and the patients agree about the patients' self-hatred and lack of self-control. Also, the borderline patients' high ratings of symptoms is very compatible with the general appearance on DSM-III of a person acting out.