title: The self is an illusion: a conceptual framework for psychotherapy.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To explain the illusory nature of the self and explore its implications for psychotherapy.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our usual experience of the self is an illusion. Rather than a discrete entity, it is a network of processes that maintains apparent irreducible unity via alterations of perceptions, beliefs, intentions and memories. By providing an efficient summary of an individual and its surroundings, the self-illusion allows one to predict, experience and interact with the world efficiently. Targeting mechanisms that preserve the self-illusion could provide a focus for psychotherapy. Viewing the self as a complex network offers a valuable conceptual framework for psychotherapy.
authors.affiliation: Neuropsychiatry Registrar, Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital, Brisbane, QLD, and; Section of History, Philosophy and Ethics of Psychiatry, The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP), Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
authors.forename: Steve
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Stankevicius
mesh_terms: D004532:Ego; D006801:Humans; D007088:Illusions; D010684:Philosophy; D011613:Psychotherapy; D012649:Self Concept
keywords: illusion; network science; philosophy; psychotherapy; self