Ego Structure Research Articles

Problems in application of the basic criteria of schizophrenia.

Four cases were diagnosed as schizophrenic by careful observation and documentation. The patients had the following in common: 1. By all symptoms no schizophrenia was immediately apparent. It required time and attention to establish the diagnosis in all cases. But then it remained firmly established by the basic accepted criteria. 2. The patients were persons of good intelligence and had other assets as well. They tended to mobilize many mechanisms of defense as ego structure threatened to weaken further. These consisted both of additional neurotic defenses and some tendency toward acting-out, but no change was manifested in areas considered schizophrenic. Therefore, we are considering a category of individuals who belong to the group of schizophrenias according to legitimate definition, but apparently no more capable of disorganization, or display of blatant accessory symptoms, than the next person. In each of these instances, schizophrenic psychopathology comprised one part of the total picture,...

Observations on illegitimacy.

Many different personality types were represented in this study as has been described by various observers. The major factor motivating the sexual behaviour of these women was the overwhelming importance to them of maintaining the dependent relationship upon a male with a total and blind acquiescence to his wishes. Of lesser importance were acting out against parents, a strong sexual drive, the need to prove oneself a woman and a desire, conscious or unconscious, to have a baby. Much guilt was aroused by the use of or insistence on birth control measures; these implied responsibility for sexual activity, the use of such measures was precluded. Contrary to other reports, nausea, vomiting and obstetrical complications occurred with the same frequency as in married women. The course of the pregnancy did not appear to be affected in any way. It was concluded that a weak ego structure was more basic to their behaviour than the unconscious drive to have a baby, or the acting out of unconscious fantasies which often have been assumed in the previous literature. The results suggest that the mild nausea and vomiting of pregnancy is of physiological rather than psychological origin, and that the course of pregnancy is not as readily affected by unhealthy motivation for having the baby as has often been assumed.

Ego Structure in Paranoid Schizophrenia

Back to table of contents Previous article Next article ArticleNo AccessEgo Structure in Paranoid SchizophreniaHERBERT S. RIPLEYHERBERT S. RIPLEYSearch for more papers by this authorPublished Online:1 Apr 2006https://doi.org/10.1176/ajp.116.4.378AboutSectionsPDF/EPUB ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack Citations ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InEmail "Ego Structure in Paranoid Schizophrenia." American Journal of Psychiatry, 116(4), p. 378 Access content To read the fulltext, please use one of the options below to sign in or purchase access. Personal login Institutional Login Sign in via OpenAthens Purchase Save for later Item saved, go to cart PPV Articles - American Journal of Psychiatry $35.00 Add to cart PPV Articles - American Journal of Psychiatry Checkout Please login/register if you wish to pair your device and check access availability. Not a subscriber? Subscribe Now / Learn More PsychiatryOnline subscription options offer access to the DSM-5 library, books, journals, CME, and patient resources. This all-in-one virtual library provides psychiatrists and mental health professionals with key resources for diagnosis, treatment, research, and professional development. Need more help? PsychiatryOnline Customer Service may be reached by emailing [email protected] or by calling 800-368-5777 (in the U.S.) or 703-907-7322 (outside the U.S.). FiguresReferencesCited byDetailsCited byNone Volume 116Issue 4 October 1959Pages 378-378 Metrics PDF download History Published online 1 April 2006 Published in print 1 October 1959

Review of Ego structure in paranoid schizophrenia: A new method of evaluating projective material.

Review of Ego structure in paranoid schizophrenia: A new method of evaluating projective material.

Disciplinary problems of the mentally retarded.

O tJR HOSPITALIZED PATIENTS often display many types of emotional difficulties, organic involvements and physical impairments associated with the existing retardation. Many patients feel, and often are, rejected by their families and by the society from which they come to us. We know that some patients escape from the institution not because they have been abused there but because of a breakdown in their ego structure. We know that a broken window may be only a symptom of emotional disturbance which we may interpret as an indication for therapy rather than as a deliberate

神経症性離人症の精神病理学的研究

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.

A character formation representing the integration of unusual conflict solutions into the ego structure.

A character formation representing the integration of unusual conflict solutions into the ego structure.

Study of attempted suicides in psychotic patients: a dynamic concept.

1. Fifty-six psychotic patients who had attempted suicide and were institutionalized were studied. 2. A paranoid system was found in all patients. 3. The defense mechanisms of projection and introjection, and their relationship to the dynamics of suicide in psychoses, are discussed. 4. The projective mechanism as a method of warding off offending impulses may be viewed as a safety valve for the suicidal patient. 5. The dynamic orientation utilized in comparing schizophrenic and manic-depressive disorders hints at a close relationship existing between them. Both conditions are based on a narcissistic regression of loved objects and damage to the ego structure.

Alienation, social apperception, and ego structure.

Alienation, social apperception, and ego structure.

The Multiplicity of the Normal Ego Structure

(1954). The Multiplicity of the Normal Ego Structure. The Journal of Psychology: Vol. 38, No. 2, pp. 389-419.

Social Status Differentials and the Race Attitudes of Negroes

occupational goals, but they did not provide her with the things she thoght they would. She became anxiety-ridden when she saw that the social goals she had hoped to attain through her long struggle for an education were beyond her reach. Shortly after she realized that her education and her job did not solve her personal-emotional problems, her ego structure collapsed, and she experienced a psychotic episode. This woman felt throughout her life that she was handicapped severely by her family background. She aspired to a higher status than the one ascribed to her by her family of orientation, and she struggled to achieve a desired social position through education. In the end, she was trapped by her failure to utilize her educational achievement to solve her emotional needs in the social sphere. Class V. The class V patients, both psychoneurotics and schizophrenics, were either semi-skilled or unskilled workers. They felt their jobs were unsatisfactory; they worried about how long they would last, the nature of the work, that they did not pay enough to meet the needs of their families, that there was no advancement, that the job carried no status, and so on through a long series of specific irritations. The jobs they aspired to were relatively modest ones, such as stationary engineer, machinist, a foremanship, clerical work. Significantly, not a single class V patient realized his occupational aspirations. As a group, they were aware of the connection between good jobs, steady jobs, jobs that paid a living wage, and a dreamed-of standard of living. Occupational aspirations were stronger among the class V women, both patients and spouses of patients, than among the men. Apparently, they visualized the connection between education, jobs, and mobility than the men. About one-half of the men hoped for a steady, semi-skilled factory job; the remainder dreamed of skilled jobs. Their wives, however, wanted more money, shorter hours, higher status jobs for their husbands, and a better shake for the kids.

Perceived Parent Attitudes as Determinants of Children's Ego Structure

Perceived Parent Attitudes as Determinants of Children's Ego Structure

Perceived parent attitudes as determinants of children's ego structure.

This study is concerned with the relationship between children's perceptions of acceptance-rejection and intrinsic-extrinsic valuation by parents, on the one hand, and various components of their ego structure on the other. Its principal differences from related studies in this area are (i) in relying on children's perceptions of parent attitudes and behavior rather than on parents' reports or observers' ratings, and (2) in relating these perceptions of parent attitudes and behavior to such characteristics of ego structure as level of ego aspiration, goal frustration tolerance and ideational independence rather than to criteria of personal and social adjustment. The use of children's perceptions of parent attitudes and behavior as the independent variable, instead of measures based upon actual behavior (or attitudes) of parents as reported by them (e.g., io, 11, 12) or as rated by observers (e.g., 3, 6, 8), is predicated upon two assumptions. First, although parent behavior is an objective event in the real world, it affects the child's ego development only to the extent and in the form in which he perceives it. Hence, perceived parent behavior is in reality a more direct, relevant and proximate determinant of personality development than the actual stimulus content to which it refers. The relationship between parent bchavior and its perceptual equivalent is, of course, an important problem in its own right. But in attempting to identify causal factors influencing personality development, it is less relevant to establish the nature of the actual environment to which the individual is exposed than to ascertain the distinguishing features of his perceived world. Second, it seems reasonable to suppose that children's perceptions of parent behavior and attitudes can be measured more validly than these latter phenomena themselves. In relation to such emotionally loaded issues as acceptance-rejection and intrinsic-extrinsic valuation, both verbal responses by parents to structured or unstructured interview questions and ratings of actual parent behavior 1IThis research was supported by grants from the Burcau of Educational Research, University of Illinois, and from the Committee on the Administration of the Ford Foundition Grant, University of Illinois.

Psychological responses to ACTH and cortisone; a preliminary theoretical formulation.

Summary Pharmacological doses of ACTH and cortisone disturb the biochemical equilibrium. A new dynamic equilibrium is established: (i) when the quantity of ACTH and cortisone administered remains within the physiological capacity to maintain homeostasis; (2) when internal metabolic stores are adequate; or (3) when the intake of exogenous supplies is unrestricted. ACTH and cortisone bring about an acceleration of the rate of biochemical interchange and promote the mobilization of energy for cellular work. The hypothesis is presented that these metabolic changes constitute physiological sources of instinctual tension and result in an increased drive to discharge energy or an increased need to obtain instinctual satisfaction. The psychoanalytic meaning of instinct is described, with emphasis on the biochemical and hormonal sources of instinctual tension. Ninety-eight patients receiving ACTH or cortisone were psychologically studied. Sixty-four of these were interviewed as part of a collaborative research enterprise, 56 with members of the metabolic group at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital and 8 with the Medical Service of the Robert Breck Brigham Hospital. Fourteen patients were seen because of psychotic behavior directly related to treatment with ACTH or cortisone. Twenty had longstanding emotional problems unrelated to treatment with these substances. The three most nearly constant findings and the three most regularly occurring together were alterations in appetite, sleep, and motor activity. The range of psychobiological response included changes in intellectual alertness and affect as well as in other highly integrated activities. Most of the patients felt stimulated and experienced a sense of well-being. When the drugs were discontinued, most patients felt a sense of emptiness and depression. Less usual patterns included mild hypo-mania, but also states of anxiety, denial of any response at all, and in some cases a "negative" response with increased inhibitions against specific activities such as walking or eating. Some patients became psychotic. The clinical response to ACTH and cortisone represented a summation of three principal components: (1) the pharmacological effect of ACTH or cortisone on the total organism; (2) the meaning to the patient of an alteration in the symptoms of the disease for which he was being treated; and (3) the nature of the patient's fantasies about the action of the substance he has been given. A patient is described illustrating the influence of each of these three factors in terms of his personality structure and the available satisfactions in his life situation. Refinements in biochemical methods will increase the precision of further investigation. An accurate knowledge of the patient's ego structure is also required and can best be developed within the setting of a relationship between the patient and the psychiatrist which has reached a certain degree of emotional intensity.

Ego structure and mental deterioration.

Ego structure and mental deterioration.

Narcoanalysis and truth.

Back to table of contents Previous article Next article ArticleNo AccessNARCOANALYSIS AND TRUTHFREDRICK C. REDLICH, LEONARD J. RAVITZ JR., and GEORGE H. DESSIONFREDRICK C. REDLICHSearch for more papers by this author, LEONARD J. RAVITZ JR.Search for more papers by this author, and GEORGE H. DESSIONSearch for more papers by this authorPublished Online:1 Apr 2006https://doi.org/10.1176/ajp.107.8.586AboutSectionsPDF/EPUB ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack Citations ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InEmail PDFThis content is only available as a PDF. Access content To read the fulltext, please use one of the options below to sign in or purchase access. Personal login Institutional Login Sign in via OpenAthens Purchase Save for later Item saved, go to cart PPV Articles - American Journal of Psychiatry $35.00 Add to cart PPV Articles - American Journal of Psychiatry Checkout Please login/register if you wish to pair your device and check access availability. Not a subscriber? Subscribe Now / Learn More PsychiatryOnline subscription options offer access to the DSM-5 library, books, journals, CME, and patient resources. This all-in-one virtual library provides psychiatrists and mental health professionals with key resources for diagnosis, treatment, research, and professional development. Need more help? PsychiatryOnline Customer Service may be reached by emailing [email protected] or by calling 800-368-5777 (in the U.S.) or 703-907-7322 (outside the U.S.). FiguresReferencesCited byDetailsCited ByThe Use of Drugs in Psychiatric Interviews: Some Interpretations Based on Controlled Experiments12 February 2015 | American Journal of Psychiatry, Vol. 131, No. 6NARCOANALYSIS AND CRIMINAL LAW1 April 2006 | American Journal of Psychiatry, Vol. 111, No. 4MODIFICATIONS IN EGO STRUCTURE AND PERSONALITY REACTIONS UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF THE EFFECTS OF DRUGS1 April 2006 | American Journal of Psychiatry, Vol. 108, No. 8 Volume 107Issue 8 February 1951Pages 586-593 Metrics PDF download History Published online 1 April 2006 Published in print 1 February 1951

A Problem of Ego Structure

A Problem of Ego Structure