Female Homosexuality and Paranoid Schizophrenia

Abstract

Freud's suggestion⁵ that in males paranoid psychotic symptoms develop as a defense against emerging unconscious homosexual wishes had generally been regarded as proven in the absence of controlled verifying studies. In a recent clinical survey of 150 male paranoid schizophrenics and controls, Klaf and Davis³ found statistically significant verification of 3 consequences of Freud's theory. The Freudian hypothesis of the genesis of paranoid symptoms has been extended to females with little supporting evidence. The psychonalytic literature on this subject has been summarized by Bychowski.⁴ A review of the psychiatric literature reveals an absence of clinical studies and only 2 case reports^1,2 dealing with homosexuality and paranoid schizophrenia in females. This paper, using the same methodology as our previous paper, attempts an objective clinical study of homosexuality in a group of 75 female paranoid schizophrenics as compared with 100 nonpsychotic controls. Material