Reality

The concept of reality is frequently taken for granted in the mental health field, as if there were a consensus about reality's existence and its nature. We say of insane patients that they have “broken with reality.” This obviously refers to a reality shared by several of us but not by the patient. One can legitimately wonder on what grounds the shared reality is seen as more real than a patient's private reality, which does not include us.

From a biological standpoint, one can speculate that shared reality is largely involved with the cerebral cortex and cognition, whereas private realities, for all of us, involve and reflect activity in our paleo-cortex or limbic system. “Making the unconscious conscious” in psychoanalytic terms can imply establishing connections between the paleo-cortex and the neo-cortex, thus making one's private reality not only conscious but available for entry into a shared reality with others. Although there may be obvious advantages to such a sharing (reduced isolation and loneliness), can one also say that sharing, by itself, makes a “reality” more real? One could, for example, argue that a sharing of cognitive, cortical realities that are not in turn rooted into our private paleo-cortices is superficial, is unlikely to reduce isolation and loneliness; and does not do justice to us as individuals or as “true selves.” A cognitive, cortical self that is not rooted in one's true emotions and true aspirations may be shared but may also constitute, as Winnicott (1965) would say, “false self.”

Is there such a thing as reality? Each one of us lives in his/her own reality, that is, experiences perceptions, feelings, and events in life as real. If we are lucky, we have someone else to share all this with. This sharing validates, and often adds meaning to our personal reality. But is there a reason for choosing one person's reality over another's? We are generally more comfortable with realities that overlap with—or at least