Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rdxmf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T08:01:08.718Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

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 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Amdur, M. J., Tucker, G. J., Detre, T. et al. (1969). ‘Anorexia nervosa: an interactional study.’ J. nerv. ment. Dis., 148, 559–66.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Astrachan, B. M., Harrow, M., and Flynn, H. R. (1968). ‘Influence of the value system of a psychiatric setting on behaviour in group therapy meetings.’ Soc. Psychiat., 3, 165–72.Google Scholar
Buss, A. H., and Durkee, A. (1957). ‘An inventory for assessing different kinds of hostility.’ J. consult. Psychol., 21, 343–9.Google Scholar
Detre, T., Sayres, J., Norton, N. M. et al. (1961). ‘An experimental approach to the treatment of the acutely ill psychiatric patient in the general hospital.’ Conn. Med., 25, 613–9.Google Scholar
Freud, S. ‘A differentiating grade in the ego.’ In: Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud, vol. XVIII, pp. 129–34. London: Hogarth Press.Google Scholar
Freud, S. (1917). ‘Mourning and Melancholia.’ In: Collected Papers, vol. IV. London: The Hogarth Press and the Institute of Psychoanalysis.Google Scholar
Freud, S. (1962). The Ego and The Id. Translated by Joan Riviere (ed. James Strachey). New York: W. W. Norton.Google Scholar
Harrow, M., and Amdur, M. J. (1971). ‘Guilt and depressive disorders.’ Arch. gen. Psychiat., 25, 240–6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Freud, S. Fox, D. A., Markhus, K. L. et al. (1968). ‘Changes in adolescents’ self-concepts and their parents’ perceptions during psychiatric hospitalization.’ J. nerv. ment. Dis., 147, 252–9.Google Scholar
Lazare, A., Klerman, G. L., and Armor, D. J. (1966). ‘Oral, obsessive and hysterical personality patterns.’ Arch. gen. Psychiat., 14, 624–30.Google ScholarPubMed
Lidz, T. (1968). The Person, p. 242. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Lynd, H. M. (1961). On Shame and the Search for Identity, p. 230. Science Editions, Inc. Google Scholar
Mosher, D. L. (1966). ‘The development and multitrait-multimethod matrix analysis of three measures of three aspects of guilt.’ J. consult. Psychol., 30, 25–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mosher, D. L. (1968). ‘Measurement of guilt in females by self-report inventories.’ J. consult. & clin. Psychol., 32, 690–5.Google Scholar
Noyes, A. P., and Kolb, L. C. (1958). Modern Clinical Psychiatry, p. 33. Philadelphia: W. B. Saunders.Google Scholar
Shanfield, S., Tucker, G. J., Harrow, M. et al. (1970). ‘The schizophrenic patient and depressive symptomatology.’ J. nerv. ment. Dis., 151, 203–10.Google Scholar
Zinberg, N. E., and Kaufman, I. (1963). ‘Cultural and personality factors associated with aging: An introduction.’ In: Normal Psychology of the Aging Process (eds. N. E. Zinberg, and I. Kaufman), pp. 1771. New York: International Universities Press.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.