The research main goal is to study patients diagnosed with Paranoid Schizophrenia, more specifically the impact of projective distortion in the self description, and the self-concept disturbance, personality traits and family dynamics, also evaluating the influence of mental representations from both the patient and parents.

It is essential to describe the semiology and phenomenology of Paranoid Schizophrenia in adults, the mental representations of these patients and their family psychodynamics. Special attention will be given to self-concept and the representation of family interactions, which several investigations mention as very relevant in Schizophrenia.

Projective Distortion is considered to be the result of the interplay of defence mechanisms inside family relationships, conceptualized as an interactional and interpersonal phenomenon.

Although there are some studies on the disturbances of self-concept in patients with Paranoid Schizophrenia, it has not been usual to simultaneously analyse both the Projective Distortion operating in the family and its impact on the patient mental representations, something that can be very relevant to therapeutic interventions.

There will be presented 5 case studies, using interviews with patients diagnosed with Paranoid Schizophrenia and their parents. These interviews will be conducted and analyzed using the Grounded Theory Method. That analysis aims to isolate significant conceptual categories, and to build a theoretical model which allows the understanding of Projective Distortion.