Ego Functions Research Articles

Development of the Japanese Version of the Test of Self-Conscious Affect-3 (TOSCA-3): A Study among Student and Parent Population.

The Test of Self-Conscious Affect-3 (TOSCA-3) is a scenario-based measure of self-conscious emotions. We aimed to create an abridged version of the TOSCA-3 that is appropriate for Japanese populations and has a good fit with the data, as well as validate its subscales. The TOSCA-3 was distributed to (a) a university student population (n = 512: Study 1) and (b) a parent population (n = 260: Study 2). In both studies, items with factor loading < 0.33 were deleted one by one to select culturally appropriate scenarios for each of the six domains of self-conscious emotions. In Study 1, self-conscious emotions were correlated with the other correlates. Most of the final models showed a good fit with the data. In Study 1, the six domains of self-conscious emotions showed correlations with depression and related items, dispositional coping styles, experiences in childhood, ego function, borderline and narcissistic personality traits, and adult attachment styles, almost in the expected fashions. The TOSCA-3 is a useful tool to measure self-conscious emotions among Japanese student and parent populations if a few culturally inappropriate scenarios are deleted.

The Influence Of Personality And Individual Differences In Improving Employee Performance In Organizations

Indonesia is one of the developing countries, which means that Indonesia has a lot of human resources. Humans have different personalities or individual characteristics. A normal personality can be described as flexible, while impaired ego function that causes rigidity is considered a sign of personality pathology. In this case, a person's personality varies depending on their habits and environment. According to the theory of Kernberg (1984), lower levels of organizational personality produce emotional instability. Where it can encourage the development of mal-adaptive behavior patterns. Objective: This study aims to identify the personality and differences in each individual that can improve their performance. The method in this study is systematic review. The search for English-language articles sourced from sciencedirect with publication years from 2020 to 2022 which were then reviewed according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Based on the results of the systematic review, individual personality cannot be equated with each person because each individual has different habits and environments and can affect employee performance. Low personality accompanied by rumination can exacerbate symptoms of depression. If individuals have high / positive personality traits, it has an important role in improving innovative behavior and performance.

The effects of online art therapy on ego functions, emotion regulation, and interpersonal relationship styles in neurotic personality organization

Art therapy, as an effective therapeutic intervention, is used to improve positive self-image and self-awareness, promote insight, and enhance therapeutic communication. This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of art psychotherapy on ego functions, emotion regulation, and interpersonal relationship styles of individuals with neurotic personality organization. Using a quasi-experimental pretest-posttest design, 60 participants were assigned to intervention and control groups, each further divided into three subgroups (n = 10 per subgroup). The intervention group engaged in online art therapy sessions twice weekly over nine weeks, while the control group received no intervention. Data analysis involved descriptive statistics, paired samples t-tests, and independent t-tests. There was a significant decrease in the intervention group's judgmental subdimensions of the Ego Function Assessment Scale. A significant decrease was found in the intervention group in “awareness” (p < 0.01), “clarity” (p < 0.05), and “impulse” (p < 0.001) subdimensions and total scores of the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale. There was no statistical difference between the intervention and control groups' mean pretests and posttests and comparing those groups with each other concerning IRSQ scores. The online group art therapy led to successful improvements in participants' ego functions and emotion regulations.

Ramifications of client’s use of projective identification, racism, and enactments of otherness: A nascent clinician’s struggle inhabiting her identities in the therapy room

Given some of the challenges beginning therapists experience in the development of their new roles, they may be more susceptible to becoming overwhelmed by their countertransference, lack the awareness to track all of the processes taking place in the therapy room (e.g., projective identification, transference/countertransference dynamics, etc.), and have a propensity to be pulled into enactments. This paper explores how therapy processes, client trauma, and clinician levels of experience intersect therapeutically with the dyad’s identity features and may impact the therapist’s ego functions. A case is discussed that explicates how racial identities in a dyad can create enactments resembling those of marked historic and cultural imbalances in Western society, taking away the minority therapist’s ability to think and speak in English due to the intense projective identification and countertransference experience of inferiority and incompetence in the presence of a patient with various identities of privilege. The role of internalized racism within the minority therapist is also explored in rendering them unable to process the deeper dynamics evoked in the therapeutic and supervisory dyad with the patient when the patient used racially charged language.

Some Arguments About Free Association as a Technique.

Freud, early in psychoanalytic history, modified hypnotic technique and recommended, in its stead, free association. This paper takes a close look at the theoretical foundations of that technique in light of theoretical developments over the past hundred plus years. It is argued that free association is similar to an asymptote, which is never quite reached. Moreover, it is argued that the direction to free associate is contraindicated in many, if not most, psychological disturbances. Guided association or avoidance of free association is sometimes required. For a limited group of patients, whose major ego functions (abstraction, integration, and reality testing), ego strengths (impulse control, affect tolerance, and containing primary process), object relations (capacities for empathy, trust, and closeness), and superego (shame/guilt) are intact, the direction to use the couch and attempt to free associate may still be quite useful. For most people who present for treatment, however, this approach is likely not beneficial. The complex arguments about the decision-making process regarding free association are discussed.

The recovery of homicidal people diagnosed with schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder-An interpretative phenomenological analysis.

Identity recovery in people diagnosed with schizophrenia who have committed homicide poses several difficulties. Premorbid mental illnesses, the experience of psychosis, and the absence of cohesive ego functions may result in the inability to integrate the homicidal act into self-identity. Problems with integration increase the risk of recidivism and further mental problems. The aim of the present research was to explore how homicidal people diagnosed with schizophrenia make sense of their actions, and how they identify with the homicide. Six semi-structured interviews were conducted at a long-term psychiatric home with people who had committed homicide and who had been diagnosed with schizophrenia. The interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA), an idiographic method rooted in phenomenologist traditions that focuses on how participants experience and make sense of events in their lives, and how those events affect their identity and sense of self. Three personal experiential themes were established as a result of the analysis: (1) homicide and responsibility; (2) homicide and self; and (3) control over threats to self and self-evaluation. (1) Homicide was often reported to have been committed in a non-conscious, delusional state that may have led to the loss of self-determination. (2) Our interviewees struggled to integrate their acts into their identities. They distanced themselves from the crime or held multiple, parallel interpretations of the act. (3) Recovering patients experienced the constant threat of entering into a delusional reality and losing control. The importance of control was central to their self-evaluation. The patients appeared to distance themselves from the homicidal act and to regard their delusional selves as a threat to their lives. Therapy aimed at bolstering self-control, supporting the integration of the fragmented self, and raising awareness of the connections between delusional reality and standard, intersubjective reality may be helpful in reducing the instability of the self. Therapy aimed at processing complex grief and loss of family is also needed.

Adaptation, Affect, and the Ego – Some Thoughts on Hartmann

ABSTRACT This discussion re-visits Hartmann’s classic treatise, Ego Psychology and the Problem of Adaptation, to consider its implications for the role of ego functions and affect, signal anxiety, affect tolerance and the pleasure principle in effecting adaptation. These include relationships with objects, their affective internalization, representation and the role that these internalized objects play in the process of adaptation regulated by the ego in regard to relationships as part of external reality. Hartmann did not address these issues either at all or only by way of a nodding acknowledgment. His later work is similarly silent. This is, therefore, a road largely unexplored in the evolution of ego psychology, conflict theory and relational psychoanalysis, and their interconnections.

The Adaptation Function of Dreams and the Waking Work: A Modern Ego Psychology View

ABSTRACT This article is about the adaptive function of dreams. It applies Hartmann’s descriptions of autonomous ego functions, especially the synthetic function of the ego, to the dream’s use of reality and to the use of dreams for adaptation; to reality and to neurotic conflict. This paper poses a specific synthetic function of the ego to be called the waking work in which the dream is applied upon awakening to problems of adaptation, growth and development.

Ego Impairment Index (EII-2) as a predictor of outcome in short- and long-term psychotherapy during a 5-year follow-up.

ObjectiveThis study examined the predictive ability of the Rorschach‐based Ego Impairment Index (EII‐2) on outcome of psychotherapy in different types and durations of therapy.MethodA total of 326 outpatients suffering from depressive or anxiety disorders were randomized into receiving solution‐focused (n = 97), short‐term psychodynamic (n = 101), or long‐term psychodynamic psychotherapy (n = 128). Psychotherapy outcome assessments during the 5‐year follow‐up period covered psychiatric symptoms, social functioning, and work ability.ResultsLower EII‐2 values, which indicate less problematic ego functioning, were found to predict faster improvement in both short‐term therapies as compared to long‐term psychotherapy.ConclusionThe results provide preliminary support for the utility of EII‐2 as a complementary measure to interview‐based methods for selecting between short‐ and long‐term therapies.

Paedophilia, or Paedophilic Breakdown? The Impetus to Seek Illegal Images Online, and Implications for Clinical Technique

When a patient presents for psychotherapy having accessed illegal images of children online, it may be impossible to know at the outset whether this reflects an enduring sexual interest in children, or the transient emergence of paedophilic sexual interest associated with a breakdown in ego functioning. Concerns about risk and the emotive nature of paedophilia may undermine the therapist's or analyst's capacity to tolerate uncertainty and maintain analytic neutrality, leading to premature assumptions about the nature of the underlying pathology. This paper describes the treatment of a patient who had a conviction for viewing indecent images of children online, and the challenge of suspending judgement and maintaining analytic doubt while exploring the meaning of his actions. There was a pressure towards a sadomasochistic transference in which the therapist would be perceived to be cruel if doubting him, but weak and naive if not questioning him. Analytic work over seven years led to a formulation of his acting out as reflecting, not enduring paedophilia, but a ‘paedophilic breakdown’. Changes were evident in his psychic functioning and his external life, as well as in the quality of the therapeutic process. The countertransference challenges of this work are discussed.

The effect of Bonyan-Method Experiential Marathon Structured Groups (BEMSG) on ego functions

The present research has studied Bonyan-Method Experiential Marathon Structured Groups' efficacy on the nonclinical populations' ego functions. This study was a quasi-experimental trial with a control group. The trial group participated in the marathon group on three consecutive days (36 hours) and weekly sessions for three weeks. Then the ego function evaluation questionnaire was simultaneously given to both groups. All ego functions in the trial group showed significant growth compared to the control group. Among these, the most remarkable statistical effect size was related to "Adaptive Regression in Service of the Ego" and "Stimulus barrier." The relationship between improving ego functions and mental health can be anticipated, and steps can be taken to promote the community’s mental health by using these groups.

Examining the Belief on God and Higher Power through Mental Status and Mental Functioning of Recovering Addicts of Kolkata, India

In the present day there is a rapid growing interest in the arena of Psycho-spirituality and Mental Health. We need to bear in mind that the spiritual is co-extensive with the religious conception. We identify what we call the spiritual life with a concern to acquire holiness and a sense of presence of God through prayer, meditation and yoga practices. Believe in God transform individual’s identity and enhance ego functioning and status of wellbeing. The cosmic image of ‘The Tree of Life may have been intended to help man in diversity, which in the life of the mind is called the discovery of meaning’. (Needleman, J,1973). Victor Frankl as quoted by Mc Clone, K (2003) stated that substance abuse might be a response to a loss of direction within the individual. Loss of freedom is perceived as the addictive substance claims possession’. Keeping these in mind the author tries to examine the relationship between the mental status and mental functioning of the addicts who have believed in God and those who don’t believe. After welcoming the clients’ mental status examination was conducted. Appearances and behavior were noted. Some questions were asked and responses were recorded. Similarly, ego functions assessment was consisted of both observations and semi-structured interviews. Differences are found to be significant at both .05 and .01 level in case of mental status examination, in case of ego functioning it was significant only at .05 level. Results are indicative of recovering addicts who believe in God would see the colorful aspect of life than who don’t believe in God. They adopt a flexible approach for desired success in lives.

Clinical evidence in the phenomenon of Demonic Possession

Purpose: Starting from the classic definition of “demonic possession” (as a psychophysical condition in which a person becomes the victim of a supernatural being of demonic origin), the present research, starting from the study published in 2019 on the proposed clinical classification of this particular phenomenon, is aimed at confirming the theoretical assumption of psychopathological origin, refuting the assumptions of the most significant analytical orientations, such as the ethnopsychiatric, the socio-anthropological, the cultural, the religious and the esoteric, to reaffirm the accuracy of the theoretical approach of the multifactorial model proposed in the previous research. Methods: Clinical interview, based on narrative-anamnestic and documentary evidence and the basis of the Perrotta Human Emotions Model (PHEM) concerning their emotional and perceptual-reactive experience, and administration of the battery of psychometric tests published in international scientific journals by the author of this work: 1) Perrotta Integrative Clinical Interviews (PICI-2), to investigate functional and dysfunctional personality traits; 2) Perrotta Individual Sexual Matrix Questionnaire (PSM-Q), to investigate the individual sexual matrix; 3) Perrotta Affective Dependence Questionnaire (PAD-Q), to investigate the profiles of affective and relational dependence; 4) Perrotta Human Defense Mechanisms Questionnaire (PDM-Q), to investigate the defence mechanisms of the Ego. Results: The preliminary results of the interviews and the anamnestic form would suggest that the phenomenon of demonic possession has a greater tendency to manifest itself in the female group, in the juvenile group (and tends to decrease but not to disappear with the advancement of age) and in the group geographically originating in the centre-south of Italy (due to greater religious influences, popular beliefs and ancestral fideistic representations). Moreover, the subsequent findings would lead to deduce with almost total certainty, concerning the selected sample, that the phenomenon of demonic possession has an absolute prevalence in the believing population, faithful or in any case trusting in the existence of paranormal phenomena per se, even in the absence of objective and/or scientific evidence. Based on the PICI-2 it emerged that the primary emerging disorder turns out to be alternatively the delusional disorder, the dissociative disorder and the obsessive disorder; followed, as secondary disorders, by the delusional disorder (if it is not considered as primary disorder), the schizoid disorder, the borderline disorder and the psychopathic disorder. Even the analysis of functional traits has reported the marked dysfunctional tendency of the classes that refer to self-control, sensitivity, Ego-ID comparison, emotionality, ego stability, security and relational functionality, reaffirming here too the marked dysfunctional tendency of the clinical population. According to the PSM-Q, more than 1/4 of participants present a lack of acceptance of their sexual orientation and a marked tendency to chronicle feelings of shame into dysfunctional sexual behaviours of avoidance or hypersexuality. Still, nine in ten reports having experienced severe psychological or physical abuse at a young age, or intraparental relational imbalance, or otherwise a sexual upbringing that was not open and lacked free communication. According to the PDM-Q, 37.2% are affected by affective dependence, with a greater emphasis on types I (neurotic), V (borderline), III (histrionic), and VII (psychotic) in that order of descent. Finally, the PDM-Q reveals the widespread psychopathological tendency of the ego function framework for the mechanisms of isolation, denial, regression, reactive formation, denial, projection, removal, withdrawal, instinct, repression, and idealization. Conclusions: The present research demonstrates beyond any reasonable doubt the psychopathological nature of the phenomenon of demonic possession, which deserves to be treated pharmacologically and with a psychotherapeutic approach (preferably cognitive-behavioural and/or strategic), according to the symptoms manifested and the severity of the morbid condition.

Walking the tightrope: ego support and exploration with a child with complex trauma

ABSTRACT Children who have experienced complex trauma in early life often fail to develop robust ego functions, such as frustration tolerance and emotion regulation capacities. Often, impairments in these capacities persistently characterise these children’s social and emotional development and, as such, prove extremely challenging to the adults who care for them. This paper aims to illustrate different ways in which therapists working with these children in psychodynamic therapy have to find a precarious balance between the need to support developing ego functions, and opportunities to conduct more exploratory work. This balance resembles walking a tightrope. We illustrate this ‘balancing act’ with case excerpts from the treatment of nine-year-old Laura, growing up in foster care after a range of complex traumatic experiences. This case study seeks to illustrate that psychotherapy with children who have a history of complex trauma may be most conducive to developmental recovery, if the therapist is able and willing to almost unabatingly walk the tightrope between ego-supportive and exploratory work with the child.

Eating Disorders and the Rorschach

Abstract. In this article we review research on eating disorders with the Rorschach. In this field there are two main lines of research involving two specific methodologies: the Comprehensive System and the French school. We present the main results of the different studies separately and then comment on some similarities and differences in the findings. We find that the results of these studies are complementary on certain aspects of functioning found in anorexia nervosa as compared with other categories of eating disorders. Both sets of studies underline the self-centeredness of anorexic patients with their difficulty in communicating their feelings and thoughts. In both types of study, treatment is understood as relying on an integrative and multidisciplinary model that seeks to modify the eating behaviors and to improve ego functions in order to moderate the patient’s distress. In addition, both types of research show that secure attachment would be the first priority for the therapist in psychological treatment, which should increase the patient’s confidence in others. They also both stress the importance of the restoration of self-esteem and a sense of identity through the support offered by the relationship to the therapist.

Application of psychoanalysis theory in personal counseling to improve the ego function of Junior High School students

The application of ego counseling is a counseling approach that emphasizes the function of the ego. This research is motivated by the weak function of the ego that is owned by students at this time, while it is the ego that develops everything. For example, the ability of students, their circumstances, social relationships and the distribution of their interests. A student must have a healthy and strong ego to respond to environmental conditions as a process of adapting. The research method used is an experimental research method . The sample in this study was class VIII students at MTs , while for the research design, the researcher used the pre-experimental method. with the type used is a one-group pretest-posttest design. M using an experimental quantitative approach. In this study, students of class VIII who have a low ego function. Based on the findings above, it can be concluded that there is an increase in ego function in students after being given individual counseling services using psychoanalytic theory.

Child ego state and self-care behavior change in heart failure patients

BackgroundThe psychological characteristics of ego functions interfere with self-care behavior in several diseases. However, the effect of ego functions on self-care behavior after education in heart failure (HF) remains unclear. MethodsSeventy-one HF patients were enrolled. Patients’ scores on the Japanese version of the European Heart Failure Self-care Behaviour Scale (EHFScBS) were measured before and after the HF intervention, and the rate of change was used as an indicator of educational effectiveness. The Tokyo University Egogram New Ver. II was used to assess five types of ego state functions: Critical parent, Nurturing parent, Adult, Free Child, and Adapted Child (AC). ResultsA comparison of the five ego states showed that AC scores were significantly lower than those of the other ego states (p < 0.01). Total EHFScBS scores significantly decreased from 33 (26–39) to 16 (14–20) (p < 0.01) after the HF education, and the median rates of change in EHFScBS was −46.2%. Patients with a lower rate of change in EHFScBS were more likely to have low AC scores, as characterized by a lack of compliance and coordination, and were less likely to receive higher education (all p < 0.05). Even after adjustment for covariates, low AC scores were independently associated with low rate of change in EHFScBS (p < 0.01). ConclusionsEducational behavior change for self-care is less effective in HF patients with an ego state with low AC.

Brotherhood and Destructivity in Sibling Relationships

Abstract The integrative and assimilatory tendencies of modern society are based on “fraternity”, which refers to the sibling level. Siblings are for each other primary objects with all the possible positive and negative affects that can go along with it. The ego functions are strongly stimulated by the exchange with the siblings, but also the infantile sexuality. In adolescence there can be sexual assaults between sister and brother that are still socially taboo. How does one explain that brotherhood can arise from sibling relations - so often characterized by jealousy and rivalry?

THE ADDICTION: A PSYCHODYNAMIC REVIEW OF GAME ADDICTION

The behavioral addiction, apart from substance use addiction, is defined by impulsive repetitive actions of the individual and has become one of the relatively new problems in the psychology community. Game addiction, which has similar diagnostic criteria with gambling addiction, is one of the areas of behavioral addiction, and studies on early object relationships, one of the reasons of this field, are very limited. Game addiction, which affects individuals regardless of age group with the developing technology, is explained by the early period unsuccessful object relations. When it comes to the importance of play in adult life, the concept of fantasy is also included in the work. In general, in this study, the irresistible needs of individuals for the controllable depth and colorful aspects of the virtual world were tried to be explained in the context of individuals' past life patterns, ego functions, self and object designs, and the clinical manifestations of behavioral addictions and also the importance of psychodynamic approaches when working with them were emphasized. Keywords: Game addiction, behavioral addiction, psychodynamic aspects of addiction, fantasy

C. G. 융으로 읽는 BTS의 ‘영혼의 지도'

Jungian analyst Dr. Murray Stein’s book < Jung’s Map of the Soul: An Introduction >, published in 1998, condensed Carl Jung’s theories into a book for beginners of depth psychology and trainee psychoanalysts. Today, it is also recognized to be the basis of K-pop group BTS’s album < Map of the Soul >. Recognizing this influence, the current study examines psychological issues in BTS’s album < Map of the Soul > through the combination of reading performances in music videos and the viewpoint of Dr. Stein. Drawing upon three videos that embody Jung’s key concepts, viz. persona, shadow, and ego, it discusses how deeply each performance delves into such psychological concepts. In so doing, this study suggests that the videos seem to focus on the personal unconscious rather than collective, and are somewhat unclear while terms such as ego and self. Nevertheless, they portray how the disintegration of the persona, the acceptance of the shadow, and closely related aspects of ego function, are crucial and indispensable steps for individuals to catalyze the process of self-actualization.