Identity disturbance

An identity disturbance is a deficiency or inability to maintain one or more major components of identity. These components include a sense of continuity over time; emotional commitment to representations of self, role relationships, core values and self-standards; development of a meaningful world view; and recognition of one's place in the world.[1][2]

It appears to be linked to emotional dysregulation, which has been shown to be a significant predictor of identity disturbance in psychiatric patients even when controlling for borderline personality disorder diagnosis, depression, and anxiety.[3] Although some researchers posit that it is the lack of consistent goals, values, world views, and relationships that lead to a sense of emptiness,[4] it is not entirely clear whether the link between emotional dysregulation and identity disturbance is because a disturbed identity creates a negative affect that is hard to regulate, because emotional dysregulation disturbs identity, because a third variable causes both (confounding), or some combination of the above.

  1. ^ Westen, D. (1985). Self and society: Narcissism, collectivism, and the development of morals. New York: Cambridge University Press.
  2. ^ Westin, D. (1992). The cognitive self and the psychoanalytic self: Can we put our selves together? Psychological Inquiry, 3(1), 1-13.
  3. ^ Neacsiu, A. D., Herr N. R., Fang C. M., Rodriguez M. A., Rosenthal M. Z. (2015). Identity disturbance and problems with emotion regulation are related constructs across diagnoses. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 71(4), 346-361. PMID 25534425
  4. ^ Westen, D., Cohen, R.P. (1994). The self in borderline personality disorder: A psychodynamic perspective. In Z. V. Segal, & S. J. Blatt (Eds.), The self in emotional distress: Cognitive and psychodynamic perspectives (pp. 334-368). New York: Guilford Press.