1Variants of the term "ego alteration" (or modification) have been surveyed in relation to the development of this concept in Freud's writings. The nucleus is to be found in the description of autoplastic adaptive changes within the self-representations and the ego-organization, pursuant upon the use and especially the failure of early infantile defence mechanisms.

2More normal aspects of ego alteration were gradually recognized and differentiated in relation to reaction formation, identification, and the formation of character traits. Derivative terms came to include congenital and acquired, partial, transitional, reactive, ego-syntonic, ego-alien, advantageous and therapeutic ego alterations.