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From Schizophrenia to Pseudostupidity

The Wish Not to Know

Nova Southeastrn University

Donald Levan

Private Practice, New York City

Robert C. Lane

Nova Southeastern University

This paper seeks to showthe impact of reconceptualization of a clinical case and the consequent change in therapeutic practice. It explores the shift in conceptualization from "schizophrenia" to "pseudostupidity" using Freud’s idea of the "wish not to know." The wish not to know is a hysterical reaction to primal scene and other early traumas (usually sexual) in which the child is so traumatized by the exposure and abuse that she develops a style of cognition of "not knowing" not only in relation to the traumas but to life in general. Her communication tended to be characterized by her previous therapists as "thought disordered" and was seen as indicative of schizophrenia. After reconceptualization the latest therapist began to attend to the issues of psuedostupidity with the result of a major lessening of her "thought disorder."

Key Words: schizophrenia • pseudostupidity • conceptualization • psychodynamic

Clinical Case Studies, Vol. 3, No. 1, 3-24 (2004)
DOI: 10.1177/0363546503258965


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