Episode 11: “How one becomes what one is.” – On the False Self

Summary: We all wear masks from time to time: at work, in front of our friends, sometimes even—or perhaps especially—within our family and in front of our partners. But there are people who find it difficult to ever take off this mask, who may not even know what their face would look like underneath. This episode deals with such questions of identity and the influential concept of the false self.

Visit our website: www.psy-cast.org

Support us on Patreon and get the scripts to the episodes: www.patreon.com/lives

Donation via Paypal

Literature Recommendations:

• Falkenström, F. (2003). A Buddhist contribution to the psychoanalytic psychology of self, The International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 84,6, 1551—1568
• Fattori, L. & Secchi, C. (2015) Existential crises in two religious patients: Vicissitudes of faith and the emergence of the true self, The Internation-al Journal of Psychoanalysis, 96,4, 993—1011
• Glasser, M. (1985). 'The Weak Spot'—Some Observations on Male Sexuality. International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 66, 405—414
• Goldberg, P. (2004). Fabricated bodies: A model for the somatic false self, The International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 85,4, 823—840
• Lowen, A. (1984/2004). Narcissism: Denial of the true self. New York: Simon & Schuster.
• Miller, A. (1979). The Drama of the Gifted Child. New York: Basic Books.
• Orme, W., Bowersox, L., Vanwoerden, S., Fonagy, P., Sharp, C. (2019). The relation between epistemic trust and borderline pathology in an adolescent inpatient sample. bord personal disord emot dysregul 6, 13.
• Schapiro, B.A. (1995). Literature and the Relational Self. New York: Uni-versity Press
• Winnicott, D. W. (1960). "Ego distortion in terms of true and false self". The Maturational Process and the Facilitating Environment: Studies in the Theory of Emotional Development. New York: International Universities Press, 140—157.