Emptiness, schizoid personality type
“The schizoid personality tends to feel emptiness as an “innate quality” (Kernberg, 1975) of their being that makes them different from other people, who they can see have feelings of “love, hatred, tenderness, longing or mourning” (p. 215) that they find unavailable within themselves. The schizoid stance has been seen as a defense against feeling longing for “emotional supplies from a good object” (Stewart, 1985) or as the result of “destructive impulses turned from the object towards his own ego” (Klein, 1946, p. 19). In either case, these people feel disintegrated, rather than anxious, unable to experience emotion, unable to contact others, and most in touch with a “soothing” (Kernberg, 1975), “amorphous experience of indefiniteness and weakness” (Guntrip, 1971, p. 97). Successful meditation for them involves a gradual process whereby contact is first made with the ego ideal through the concentration practices, providing a sense of ontological security to counter their pervasive insecurity and allowing the soothing emptiness to be gradually relinquished. At this point the mindfulness practices can begin to uncover the emotional traces that have been unattended to. The obvious mis-use of meditation here is as a validation and reinforcement of the schizoid view of “no feelings” as an absolute truth. The Zen chant of “No eyes, no ears, no mouth, etc.” can readily serve as a schizoid defense when incorrectly apprehended.”
— “Psychotherapy without the Self: A Buddhist Perspective”, Dr. Mark Epstein M.D.
