title: "I HEAR MY VOICE, BUT WHO IS TALKING?": UNDERSTANDING DEPERSONALIZATION.
abstract: Depersonalization is the frightening experience of being a shut-inside, ghostlike, "true" self that observes another part of the self interacting in the outside world. The "true" self hides safely within, while the "participating" self holds all affects and impulses. This split in the ego is created via internal projective identification in the face of overwhelming affect, unavailability of adequate identifications, and insufficient support for psychic cohesion. As the transference develops, the powerful entrapping cocoon of depersonalization can be projected onto the now-entrapping analyst, where it can be addressed. A clinical vignette illustrates these points.
authors.affiliation: Training and Supervising Analyst at the Institute for Psychoanalytic Education, New York, and a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at NYU School of Medicine.
authors.forename: Jacqueline
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Haft
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003861:Depersonalization / Q000628:therapy*; D004532:Ego; D006801:Humans; D011575:Psychoanalytic Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D012944:Social Support; D014167:Transference, Psychology
keywords: Depersonalization; child abuse; core self; derealization; fantasy; identification; identity formation; negative transference; psychic retreat