ABOUT PREPSYCHOTIC PERSONALITY-DEVELOPMEN T IN ADOLESCENCE

Identity development in adolescence may act as stressor triggering juv enile psychotic episodes. A model is being presented stating that self development in subjects with high vulnerability for psychosis leads t o the establishment of an ''imaginary self'' consisting of phantasies and fictions without taking into account facts a nd social realities. The ''imaginary self'' stabilizes irritating self deficiencies, thus l eading to a vulnerability for depersonalisation and identity diffusion during actual turmoils of adaptation.