The Genesis of the Feeling of Unreality1

In a previous presentation the writer advanced the theory that those mental states, such as the feeling that what goes on in the world does not concern one, frozen mind, feeling of stupidity, etc., fall into the general category of depersonalization.2 Such states are preceded by an erotization of the process of thinking and the erotized thinking follows the pattern of thinking of the parent of the opposite sex to the patient. The identification with the 'thinking' parent usually occurs after the child has encountered rebuffs which it considers unjust and unjustifiable from the dull parent. Clinical material indicates that this identification occurs at and is essentially a variation of the Oedipal super-ego structure. Subsequently the child appreciates that 'thinking' is a force which the thinking parent uses to conquer the parent who has repelled the child.

The impetus to interest in thinking is the desire to acquire a weapon of offence and defence against the hated parent. The libido which this parent has rejected and through rejection has set free now invests the thinking process. The thinking parent is apt to be undemonstrative, but the child seeks to gain the latter's favour through emphasis of the quality which he considers the important asset of the parent who has not actively repulsed him.

Where such emphasis on thinking occurs, it enters strongly into the structure of the super-ego, and the development of intellectuality becomes one of the positive super-ego goals. Depending upon the sex of the parent with whom the patient has identified himself, the super-ego assumes a cast definitely feminine or masculine in its significance to the patient. The feeling of unreality occurs when an attempt is made to repress such thinking as incompatible with the thought (and action) considered normal for the sex of the individual. The repression and the resultant loss of the repressed part of the personality give to the patient a feeling that he is not himself—that i