The unconscious : $b The fundamentals of human personality, normal and abnormalPrince, Morton
Science
The unconscious : $b The fundamentals of human personality, normal and abnormal
Prince, Morton
Psychology, Pathological; Subconsciousness
This is not the place to enter into an explanation of dissociated
personality, but I may point out, in anticipation of a deeper discussion
of the subject, that, in accordance with these two principles, in such
conditions we sometimes find that disposition and other complexes
conserved in the unconscious come to the surface and displace or
substitute themselves for the other complexes which dominate a
personality. A complex or system of complexes that is only a mood or a
“side of the character” of a normal individual, may in conditions of
dissociation become the main complex and chief characteristic of the new
personality. In Miss B., for instance, the personality known as BI was
made up almost entirely of the religious and ethical ideas with
corresponding instincts which formed one side of the original self. In
the personality known as Sally we had for the most part the
chronological and mood complexes of youth representing the enjoyment of
youthful pleasures and sports, the freedom from conventionalities and
artificial restraints generally imposed by duties and responsibilities;
she was a resurrection of child life. In BIV the complex represented the
ambitions and activities of practical life. In Miss B., as a whole,
normal, without disintegration, it was easy to recognize all three
dispositions as sides of her character, though each was kept ordinarily
within proper bounds by the conflicting influence of the others. It was
only necessary to put her in an environment which encouraged one or the
other side, to associate her with people who strongly suggested one or
the other of her own characteristics, whether religious, social,
pleasure-loving, or intellectual, to see the characteristics of BI,
Sally, or BIV stand out in relief as the predominant personality. Then
we had the alternating play of these different sides of her character.
Likewise in B. C. A. In each of the personalities, B and A, similar
disposition complexes could be recognized each corresponding to a side
of the character of the original personality C. In A were represented
the complexes formed by ideas of duty, responsibility, and moral
scruples; in B were represented the complexes formed by the longing for
fun and the amusements which life offered. When the cleavage of
personality took place it was between these two complexes, just as it
was in Miss B. between the several complexes above described. This is
well brought out in the respective autobiographies of B[150] and
Sally[151] in these two cases. In many cases of hysteria in which
dissociation of personality can be recognized the same phenomenon is
often manifest. A careful study will reveal it also, I believe, in other
cases of multiple personality, although, of course, as we have seen, the
dissociation may be along other lines; that is, between other complexes
than those of disposition.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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