PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORIES OF DEPERSONALIZAT ION

Depersonalization, which designates a feeling of unreality and alienat ion of the self, is nosologically unspecific and occurs in mild to sev ere psychopathology. Psychoanalytic authors conceive it as a defence p henomenon and emphasize the role of ego-splitting and self-observation , the role of disturbance of the sense of reality and the sense of sel f, and the role of unacceptable identifications. While in neurotically structured patients, depersonalization may be utilized by the ego as a defensive affect protecting the ego from painful super-ego stimuli a nd contradicting identifications, in developmental pathologies, it may be a signal affect denoting an actual or feared challenge to self-con stancy.