Alternative psychoanalytical perspective of psychotic features in schizophrenia

 In the popular psychoanalytic framework, the mother is given a lot of importance due to her nurturing unconditional love which assists the child to deal with the psycho-sexual conflict in the developmental stages. However, the role of the father is not emphasized upon. This study looks at detailed semistructured interviews of 3 female patients residing in a mental asylum in Mumbai (India) who were in the active phase of schizophrenia. Though they had differing negative views on their respective fathers, it was understood that there was a link between the behavioural patterns exhibited by the father and the content of the patients’ hallucinations and delusions. Jacques Lacan had stated that the father had a role to play in the development of mental distress especially schizophrenia which is what this research has intended to demonstrate. After briefing explaining the complex Lacanian concept of ‘foreclosure’, the research evaluates the details of the interviews conducted in regards to the psychosis as experienced by the women. There is a reason for the hallucinations or delusions manifesting, concluding with a proposed therapeutic modality seeking to address the void created by the father without threatening the psychosis. This is found to be beneficial in managing the symptoms of psychosis in the prodromal and residual phases of Schizophrenia.