The History of Schizoid: A Comparative Analysis

UCalgary Philosophy MA student, Larissa Kolias won a SSHRC Canada Graduate Scholarship-Masters in Fall 2021, the results of which were only recently announced. We asked Larissa to tell us about her project:

"I provide a comparative analysis of “schizoid” within the descriptive and psychodynamic (psychiatric) traditions, starting in the early twentieth century," she states. "My goal is to show the different ways in which schizoid, both as a broadly-construed phenomenon or mechanism of the psyche and as a personality syndrome in specific, was historically conceptualized - and how these conceptualizations have contributed to either contemporary descriptive or contemporary psychodynamic understandings of schizoid. I show that the reductionism of the descriptive tradition, with a focus on heritability and classifications based on observable, outward symptoms, has led to a concept of schizoid personality disorder that is inadequate; the DSM-5 Personality and Personality Disorders Work Group itself proposed the removal of schizoid personality disorder from the fifth edition of the DSM (Skodol, 2012). I instead advocate for a concept of schizoid personality disorder that follows from the history of both the descriptive and psychodynamic traditions." 

Thank you for telling us about your fascinating project, Larissa. Congratulations, once again!