Upset by Kretschmer!

Good evening everyone.

I remember seeing a quote about the schizoid mind being like an Arctic wilderness. On Googling I found the origin of the quote in “Physique and Character” by Ernst Kretschmer, published in 1925. He writes vividly and at length about the schizoid condition. The quote I was thinking of goes like this:

"a nothing, a dark, hollow-eyed nothing . . . which twitches uncertainly with every expiring whim—nothing but broken pieces, black rubbish heaps, yawning emotional emptiness, or the cold breath of an arctic soullessness … a man who stands in our way like a question mark, we feel that we are in contact with something flavourless, boring, and yet with a certain problematic quality about it".

There is a lot more in a similar vein.

Does anyone know this work? It seems to be a character assassination of people with SPD. I had the unpleasant feeling he could see right through me, I was being viewed at the end of his microscope. He seems to hate us. Not an ounce of sympathy, and even positive-sounding attributes (loving nature, books) are turned into negatives.

Anyone know if Kretschmer’s ideas still hold today?

I know it sounds stupid but it’s made me remember how dull and lacking in personality I was when I was young, all the slights and disparaging comments people have made to me over the years when I was trying to be nice, and I feel just so fundamentally wrong and it HURTS…

It takes all sorts to make a world they say… unless you’re like me, that is.

I just feel like never talking to anyone ever again.

If anyone wants to have a look, it starts at Chapter 10, https://books.google.fr/books?id=Zbr...ortion&f=false

PS I was diagnosed with SPD in 1995 by a therapist who seemed a bit creepy and inappropriate. I haven’t had that diagnosis repeated by subsequent professionals.