Sensitivity, isolation, and loneliness in the treatment of schizoid personality disorder.

This paper examines seminal psychoanalytic theory regarding the etiology of schizoid personality disorder and discusses considerations for treatment. In light of prevalent theory and citing case material, essential features of the analyst's calibrated emotional presence in the treatment of those suffering from this affliction, as well as the promotion of a curative sense of ordinariness, are discussed. In line with this, particular attention is paid to the challenges, resistances and suffering experienced by both patient and analyst as they attempt to relate. Primary among these challenges is the debilitating sensitivity, isolation, and loneliness of the schizoid person, which complicates the desire to relate, confining the person to the shadows of interpersonal life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]