Effects of subliminal stimulation of oneness fantasies on manifest pathology in male vs. female schizophrenics.
This study examined the effects of subliminally activated fantasies of oneness with each parent on the manifest pathology of schizophrenic men and women. Subjects were seen individually for three subliminal stimulation sessions on different days. In each session, measures of pathological thinking and pathological behavior were obtained for a "baseline" assessment before subliminal stimulation, and a "critical" assessment after subliminal stimulation. All subjects received, in counterbalanced order, the two subliminal oneness stimuli ("mommy and I are one" and "daddy and I are one" plus congruent pictures) and a neutral-control message ("people are walking" plus a congruent picture). At the end of the last session, each subject was given a family interview and a family picture test (a card from the CAT depicting three bears at a tug of war). The aim of these procedures was to allow for an exploration of the relationship between the schizophrenic's perception of his or her early experience with each parent and his or her response to each oneness stimulus. Results for symbiotic stimulation showed, as hypothesized: a) the "mommy" stimulus reduced pathological behavior in males but not in females; b) the "daddy" stimulus reduced pathological thinking in females but not in males. Results of the family interview and picture test indicated that the more the male subjects experienced active involvement with one parent, the more they reduced pathology after the oneness stimulus involving that parent, and the less they did so after the stimulus involving the other parent. These results were discussed and suggestions for future research were offered.
D005201:Fantasy; D005219:Father-Child Relations; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007406:Interview, Psychological; D008297:Male; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D010555:Personality Inventory; D011386:Projective Techniques; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology; D012737:Sex Factors; D012938:Social Perception; D013360:Subliminal Stimulation; D014796:Visual Perception