title: Character: a concept in search of an identity.
abstract: I have attempted to clarify the clinical usage of the concept of character. I have examined such terms as character trait, character, and character disorder. I have described various schemes of classification, and have proposed key definitions for the above terms. I have described the unique aspect of character, that is, its capacity to establish a relation between a superficial attribute and a deep structure. Finally, I have suggested that character represents the core of the individual from a particular point of view--a precipitate of a person's relations to the outside world.
mesh_terms: D002605:Character; D006801:Humans; D010553:Personality Development; D010554:Personality Disorders / Q000523:psychology; D011369:Professional-Patient Relations; D011574:Psychoanalytic Theory; D011575:Psychoanalytic Therapy / Q000379:methods