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Conscience and Depressive Disorders

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Millard J. Amdur
Affiliation:
University of Connecticut School of Medicine, Storrs, Connecticut, 06268, U.S.A. Student Mental Health Service, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut, 06268, U.S.A.
Martin Harrow
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut, U.S.A.

Extract

The present research represents an attempt to study the construct of ‘conscience’ in quantitative fashion and to investigate its relation to various types of psychiatric disorders. The psychoanalytic literature deals extensively with aspects of functioning or behaviour which are related to the inner rules which influence man's conduct. In his early writing, Freud described conscience as ‘one part of the ego’ which judged it critically (6), but by 1921 (5) he referred to this self-critical agency as the ego ideal. In 1923, Freud included in the new construct superego the functions of ego ideal as well as conscience (7). Current emphasis continues to be on the censuring aspects of superego (12, 15) and its similarity to conscience (11).

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1972 

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