Author: Glossary

A disturbance of unknown etiology characterized by episodic stupor that may proceed to coma.  

Ways in which different cultures express, experience, and cope with feelings of distress. One example is somatization, or the expression of distress through physical symptoms.  

This term is applied to adolescents who are in the process of detaching themselves from their families and parental value systems in an attempt to establish their own independent indentities.  

The lack of a consistent sense of self due to a failure of integration of diverse senses of self.  

A loss of the sense of the sameness and historical continuity of one’s self and an inability to accept or adopt the role one perceives as being expected by society. This is often expressed by self-isolation, social withdrawal, extremism, rebelliousness, and negativity and is typically triggered by a sudden increase in the strength of instinctual…

The sense of self and unity of personality over time; one element of identity is gender identity. Identity disturbances are seen in gender identity disorder, borderline personality disorder, and schizophrenia. A person’s global role in life and the perception of his sense of self. The characteristics by which an individual, organism, specimen, or finding is…

A defense mechanism, operating unconsciously, by which one patterns oneself after some other person. Identification plays a major role in the development of one’s personality and specifically of the superego, to be differentiated from imitation or role modeling, which is a conscious process. The act of discovering or stating who someone is or what something…

Fixed idea. Used in psychiatry to describe a compulsive drive, an obsessive idea, or a delusion.  

Incorrect interpretations of casual incidents and external events as having direct reference to oneself. May reach sufficient intensity to constitute delusions. A characteristic of some mental disorders in which the person thinks that external events are specifically related to them on a personal basis. A goal or endeavor regarded as a standard of perfection. People…

An attitude in which the therapist is seen in glowing, elevated terms. From a self psychology perspective, this attitude is viewed as an inevitable element in the treatment of narcissistic phenomena.