A schizophrenic

According to our hypothesis, the tern "ego function" (as this term is used when a schizophrenic is described as having "weak ego function") is precisely the process of discriminating communicational modes either within the self or between the self and others The schizophrenic exhibits weakness in three areas of such function: (a) He has difficulty in assigning the correct communicational mode to the messages he receives from other persons. (b) He has difficulty in assigning the correct communicational mode to those messages which he himself utters or emits nonverbally. (c) He has difficulty in assigning the correct communicational mode to his own thoughts, sensations, and percepts.
-- by Gregory Bateson et al.Don D. Jackson, Jay Haley, and John Weakland, Veterans Administration Hospital, Palo Alto, California; and Stanford University Behavioral Science [1956] 1(4): 251-254.
Category:Psychology
Category:Mental illness