A Psychopathological Consideration on the Neurotic Depersonalization

Abstract

The author has tried a life-historical analysis on thirty cases of neurotic depersonalization in regard to the psychogenesis. At the same time, the ego structure in these patients has been discussed.
1) The ability of estimation of love in these patients was seriously twisted as they had been loved too much or too little in their infancy. The character features such as peculiar sensitiveness in interpersonal relationship, monopolistic tendency, strong need for might, self-assertion, selfishness, etc. were all attribuable to the various factors in their infantile life-history. In common to the neurotics, the frustration tolerance (especially for love) was also extremely faible and the socialization of personality was pretty insufficient in these patients. This fact means the elevated susceptibility to affective frustrations in the future.
2) The depersonalization appears always after the intense inner tension for certain period, which signifies the consumption of psychological force ( Janet). The abrupt abasement of psychological tension is motivated by the sudden affective deprivation or by the strong menaces to or the sudden interruption of the tendency of self-enlargement in such circumstances. The depersonalization is caused by the reduction of the secondary action ( Janet) which is brought about by the abasement of psychological tension. At the same time, the state completely narcissistic would develop in such conditions just mentioned. On the contrary, the displacement of these motives and the resolution of the inner tension will play an important role in the disparition of the depersonalization symptoms.
3) Last of all, the depersonalization begins, according to Federn, whenever the outer ego-boundary becomes weak and consequently the egotized data concerned lose the energy cathexes. This weakening of the outer ego-boundary results, in my opinion, from the ego weakness which is attribuable to constitutional factors in one hand and to the intense inner tension for certain period on the other. In the psychogenesis of depersonalization, Federn emphasized the mechanism of projection of this primary ego disturbance to the outer objects. From the psychoanlytic point of view, the reduction of libido and mortido components in the ego cathexes to objects is the result of the relative increase of medial ego cathexes, which is the most primitive form of ego libido (Federn), caused by the lifehistorically developped narcissism. The organs and the functions to which libido is mostly invested in healthy state are influenced most seriously in the deprsonalized patients. Finally, it is relatively strengthened by the weakening of tile inner ego-boundary.