On Retaining the Sense of Reality in States of Depersonalization: C. P. Oberndorf. Int. J. Psa., XX, 1939, p. 137.

In earlier papers1 Oberndorf developed a theory of depersonalization. In essence it rests upon an identification with the parent of the opposite sex which occurred after sexualization of the thinking function had taken place; the 'mode of thinking of the opposite sex' in the superego will then be experienced as incongruous, and suppressed. Oberndorf now reports further clinical observations which seem to him to confirm this theory. In particular Oberndorf examines the phenomenon that for some patients suffering from depersonalization certain experiences have nevertheless retained their full reality and are felt with complete emotion. For one woman patient an interest in books was such an exception. Books which had attracted the attention of the patient because of their symbolic significance had been excluded from depersonalization because of their harmless character. Oberndorf then discusses the fact that patients who suffer from depersonalization often identify themselves with dead objects. Finally he also considers special types of resistance arising from depersonalization: the feeling that the analyst's interpretations are not at all real protects the patients from complete acceptance of the interpretations.