The author concludes that depersonalization occurs in predisposed individuals when circumstances produce a dissimilarity between 'myself as perceived by others' and 'myself as perceived by me'. The predisposition stems from infantile experiences in which instinctual needs recognized by the infant's ego are either not acknowledged by the mother or treated as though they do not exist. Affects of rage and guilt result, against which the child defends himself by a split in the ego and transient identification with the frustrator (mother). In this manner first