In this paper I elaborated on my earlier delineation of the clinical psychiatric aspects of the psychotic character. I emphasized that we are not dealing with a transitional phase on the way to or back from psychosis, or a latent or larval psychosis which may become overt. We are dealing with characterological phenomena peculiar to persons who may never show psychosis and who establish a reality-syntonic adaptation.

The diagnosis of psychotic character is proposed as a counterpart to neurotic character. As the latter is characterized by neurotic processes and modes of adaptation, the psychotic character is dominated by psychotic processes and modes of adaptation. As in the psychotic, there is a propensity for regressive dedifferentiation and an underlying fear of disintegration and dissolution of the self. The psychotic reactions of fragmentation, projective identification, ego splitting, etc., can also be observed