You do not currently have permission to view the full text for this document. Please sign in to an account with an active subscription or contact support.
June 25, 1957. ON EGO DISTORTIONS. Maxwell Gitelson, M.D.
Ego distortions involve the entire psychic apparatus and become rigidly integrated into a defensive adaptation. Various specific ego distortions are single instances of a general process. Because a variety of designations has been applied to these pathologic ego manifestations, usually the chief symptom (e.g., 'as if' personality), the assumption is that the disturbance represents a specific defect of the ego. This emphasizes a structural delimitation of pathology and does not conform to the acknowledged interrelationships of the ego's functions.
It would be preferable to consider these phenomena as character disorders in