How illness or strain can affect us

There are two different ways of responding to anxiety; the paranoid-schizoid  (p-s) and depressive positions.

In the paranod-schizoid position, anxieties are about life and death.   There may be underlying panic and massive fears.

• time stands still
• we see things as ‘you OR me’ , ‘your life OR mine’, not ‘you AND me’.
• selfishness may save our life
• consideration for others is cut off and out
• we split people and things into simple categories, depending on whether they will keep us alive or threaten us
• the capacity for reasoned thought is lost
• apology is impossible  – responsibility is so frightening it has to be disowned
• huge, life-threatening self-blame is covered up by blaming someone else
• people can be afraid they should pay for their sins with their lives – so in order to save their lives, they may deny their sins.
• forgiveness is not an option
• other people may be felt as dangerous, threatening, intrusive.
• other people may be used or manipulated or threatened, as a way of getting rid of terrible anxieties into them and out of the self
• other people may be seen as cartoon characters:  Perfect Angels or Monsters, Saviours or the Devil himself.”