Stage One: Egoic Breakdown
Jack begins to have difficulty sleeping. He goes to see a doctor and begs him for some medication that would allow him to get a good night's rest but the doctor, almost coldly in retrospect, dismisses him with the admonishment that he should seek out natural sources of aid. It's important to know that sleep deprivation is associated with psychotic states of consciousness and it's here that we begin to see evidence that Jack's ego is breaking down.
This stage would correspond with the 'prodromal' phase of a schizophrenic breakdown/fragmentation crisis. As the
Ego begins to break down under the stress and strain experienced by the
Persona it seems to lose the ability to serve as a filter or container to the contents of the unconscious, which now begin to break through. The astute observer will first see Tyler appear for just a flash of a second when Jack is standing next to the photocopier at work. In my own case, this was when music or select stages of prose suddenly became of critical importance. I've speculated that people who experience "thought insertion" may be undergoing a similar process as thoughts and beliefs which are alien and do not seem to belong to them are thrust into their consciousness without their conscious consent for a seemingly inexplicable purpose.
Quote:
Is Schizophrenia 'Split Personality'?
Yes . . . and No! Imagine, if you will, that a 3-levelled house represents the structure of the psyche. The top floor, consisting of various linked rooms, represents consciousness, in all its bustling, interacting complexity. Immediately below is the cellar, which represents the personal unconscious, or dark 'shadow' side of the personality. The lowest level, the basement, is the oldest part of the house and contains dim, godlike and archaic figures, personifications of what Jung called 'archetypes', universally occurring, powerful energies and forms of behaviour and thought, which make up what Jung called the 'collective unconscious', and which often take on mythological, religious, semi-human, divine, animal or natural forms. What we call 'split personality' involves the conscious personality forming split off, distinctly separate personalities, so it's as if the upper floor rooms become completely isolated from each other, their doors all locked.
With a schizophrenic split, or fragmentation, however, it's as if the house's floorboards (foundations of the conscious personality) are split, or shattered as invading archetypal figures from the basement rush up to inhabit, or displace the upstairs (conscious) inhabitants.
Source: Schizophrenia: The Soul in Crisis
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Jack is exhausted and this exhaustion is further hampered by the travel schedule imposed on him by his employer. He complains that he wakes up in strange places, no longer being certain even of the time-zone he is in. Jack's ego barriers are swiftly eroding; as they do so, his inner and outer realities begin to blend and become indistinguishable.
At some point during his travels Jack falls asleep and has a nightmare that the plane is crashing. Intense fear seems to belong to this stage, as if the ego senses the risk of fragmentation and the potential for collapse. Jack also seems to understand that something is wrong and perhaps fueled by a desire to find some relief and as a result of the former doctor's haphazard suggestion that 'real pain' can be found among sufferers of testicular cancer, Jack heads out to attend his first support group meeting. He is looking for answers. Tyler also appears as a flash upon the screen, his arm around the faciliator's shoulders. It's here that Jack (Persona/Ego) first meets Bob (Mana Personality) and he doesn't yet consciously know it, but his answers have begun to come because Bob serves as a representative of the
Self...
.