Across the spectrum of diagnostic categories, patients allude in various ways to states of mind and emotion in which their autonomy is taken over to the detriment of their own goals and ambitions. These ‘take-overs’ happen within the therapeutic space or outside in the daily life of the patient, but a characteristic common to all is that they are experienced as outside the patient's control. Indeed it is for the very reason that patients feel their lives to be out of their control that they seek help in the first place. This paper reviews the concepts available to understand such processes and shows the clinical application of the concept of Internal Cohabitation.