Skip to main content
Key Specialties
Cardiology Diabetology Endocrinology Gastroenterology Geriatrics and Gerontology Gynecology and Obstetrics Hematology Infectious Disease Internal Medicine Nephrology Neurology Oncology Pediatrics Respiratory Medicine Rheumatology Surgery
Congress Coverage
2024 ACC Congress 2023 ESMO Congress 2023 EASD Congress 2023 ERS Congress 2023 ESC Congress 2023 EHA Congress 2023 ASCO Annual Meeting
Clinical Collections
Advances in Alzheimer’s

At a glance: The ONWARDS insulin icodec trials

A round-up of the ONWARDS phase 3 clinical trials evaluating the novel weekly insulin icodec in people with diabetes.
ADVANCED SEARCH
Log in
Top
Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health
Published in: Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health 1/2013

Open Access 01-12-2013 | Research

On identity: from a philosophical point of view

Author: Daniel Sollberger

Published in: Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health | Issue 1/2013

Login to get access

Abstract

Background

The term “identity” has a much longer tradition in Western philosophy than in psychology. However, the philosophical discourse addresses very different meanings of the term, which should be distinguished to avoid misunderstandings, but also to sharpen the key meanings of the term in psychological contexts. These crucial points in the philosophical concepts of identity in the sense of singularity, individuality, or self-sameness may structure the ongoing discussion on identity in psychiatric diagnoses (as in DSM-5, Child Adolesc Psychiatry Ment, this issue, 2013), in psychology, psychoanalysis, but also neuroscience and neurophilosophy (Child Adolesc Psychiatry Ment, this issue, 2013).

Method

The concept of identity is subjected to a systematic philosophical analysis following some milestones in its history to provide a background for recent discussions on identity in psychiatry and psychology.

Results

The article focuses first on the philosophical core distinctions of identity in the different meanings to be addressed, second, briefly on some of the diverse psychological histories of the concept in the second half of the 20th century. Finally some reflections are presented on borderline personality disorder, considered as a mental disorder with a disturbance or diffusion of identity as core feature, and briefly on a newly developed instrument assessing identity development and identity diffusion in adolescence, the AIDA that is also presented in the special issue of this journal (Child Adolesc Psychiatry Ment, this issue, 2013).

Conclusion

As a conclusion, different points of view concerning identity are summarized in respect to treatment planning, and different levels of description of identity in phenomenology, philosophy of mind, cognitive science, and social science and personality psychology are outlined.
Literature
1.
Leibniz GW: Discourse on Metaphysics. Philosophical Papers and Letters. Edited by: Loemker L. 1969, Dordrecht: D. Reidel, 2
2.
3.
Kant I: Critique of pure reason. Edited by: Guyer P, Wood A. 1999, Cambridge: University Press
4.
5.
Kihlstrom JF, Beer JS, Klein SB: Self and identity as memory. Handbook of self and identity. Edited by: Leary MR, Tangney JP. 2003, New York: Guilford, 68-90.
6.
Tugendhat E: Selbstbewusstsein und Selbstbestimmung. 1979, Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp
7.
Straub J: Identitätstheorie im Übergang?. Soziologische Literatur Rundschau. 1991, 23: 56-57.
8.
Goffman E: Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity. 1963, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall
9.
Erikson EH: Identity and the cycle of life. (1st ed. 1959). 1980, New York: Norton & Co.
10.
Ricoeur P: Oneself as another. 1992, Chicago (transl. by K. Blamey): The University of Chicago Press
11.
Frankfurt H: The importance what we care about. 1988, Cambridge: Cambridge University PressCrossRef
12.
Jørgensen CR: Invited essay: Identity and borderline personality disorder. J Pers Disord. 2010, 24: 344-364. 10.1521/pedi.2010.24.3.344.CrossRefPubMed
13.
Northoff G: Brain and Self – A neurophilosophical account. Child Adolesc Psychiatry Ment Health. (this issue)
14.
Appiah KA: The ethics of identity. 2005, Princeton: Princeton University Press
15.
Day JM, Tappan MB: The narrative approach to moral development: From the epistemic subject to dialogical selves. Hum Dev. 1996, 39: 67-82. 10.1159/000278410.CrossRef
16.
Nooan HW: Personal identity. 1990, London: Routledge
17.
Glas G: Person, personality, self, and identity: A philosophical informed conceptual analysis. J Pers Dis. 2006, 20: 126-138. 10.1521/pedi.2006.20.2.126.CrossRef
18.
Zahavi D: Phenomenology of the self. The self in neuroscience and psychiatry. Edited by: Kircher D, David A. 2003, Cambridge: Dambridge University Press, 56-75.CrossRef
19.
Kircher D, David A: The self in neuroscience and psychiatry. 2003, Cambridge: Dambridge University PressCrossRef
20.
James W: Principles of Psychology, Volume 1. 1890, New York: Henry-Holt & CoCrossRef
21.
Mead GH: Mind, self, and society. 1934, Chicago: University Press of Chicago
22.
Bauman Z: Liquide life. 2005, London: Polity
23.
Erikson EH: Identity. Youth and crisis. 1968, New York: Norton
24.
Jørgensen CR: Disturbed sense of identity in borderline personality disorder. J Pers Disord. 2006, 20: 618-644. 10.1521/pedi.2006.20.6.618.CrossRefPubMed
25.
Erikson EH: Growth and crisis of the healthy personality. Identity and the life cycle. 1950, New York: International University Press, 50-100.
26.
Goth K, Foelsch P, Schlüter-Müller S, Birkhölzer M, Jung E, Pick O, Schmeck K: Assessment of identity development and identity diffusion in adolescence - Theoretical basis and psychometric properties of the self-report questionnaire AIDA. Child Adolesc Psychiatry Ment Health. 2012, 6: 27-10.1186/1753-2000-6-27.PubMedCentralCrossRefPubMed
27.
Erikson EH: The problem of ego identity. J Am Psychoanal Assoc. 1956, 4: 56-121. 10.1177/000306515600400104.CrossRefPubMed
28.
Kernberg OF: Identity: Recent findings and clinical implications. Psychoanal Q. 2006, 75: 969-1004.CrossRefPubMed
29.
American Psychiatric Association (APA): Diagnosic and statistical manual of mental disorders (DSM-IV-TR). 2000, Washington: American Psychiatric Publishing, 4
30.
Sollberger D, Gremaud-Heitz D, Riemenschneider A, Küchenhoff J, Dammann G, Walter M: Associations between identity diffusion, axis II disorder, and psychopathology in inpatients with borderline personality disorder. Psychopathology. 2012, 45: 15-21. 10.1159/000325104.CrossRefPubMed
31.
Marcia JE: Identity diffusion differentiated. Psychological development across the life-span. Edited by: Luszcz MA, Nettelbeck T. 1989, North-Holland: Elsevier, 289-295.
32.
Clarkin JF, Yeomans FE, Kernberg O: Psychotherapy for Borderline Personality: Focusing on Object Relations. 2006, Washington: American Psychiatric Publishing
33.
Oldham J, Clarkin JF, Appelbaum A, Carr A, Kernberg P, Lotterman A: A self report instrument for borderline personality organization. The Borderline: Current Empirical Research. Edited by: McGlashan TH. 1985, Washington: American Psychiatric Press, 3-18.
34.
Kernberg OF: Aggressivity, narcissism, and self-destructiveness in the psychotherapeutic relationship. 2004, New Haven: Yale University PressCrossRef
35.
Kernberg OF: Aggression in Personality Disorders and Perversions. 1992, New Haven: Yale University Press
36.
Marcia JE: Ego identity and personality disorders. J Pers Disord. 2006, 20: 577-596. 10.1521/pedi.2006.20.6.577.CrossRefPubMed
37.
Bender DS, Skodol AE: Borderline personality as a self-other representational disturbance. J Pers Disord. 2007, 21: 500-517. 10.1521/pedi.2007.21.5.500.CrossRefPubMed
38.
Fuchs T: Fragmented selves: Temporality and identity in borderline personality disorder. Psychopathology. 2007, 40: 379-487. 10.1159/000106468.CrossRefPubMed
39.
Westen D, Cohen RP: The self in borderline personality disorder: A psychodynamic perspective. The Self in Emotional Distress: Cognitive and Psychodynamic Perspectives. Edited by: Segal ZV, Blatt SJ. 1993, New York: Guilford Press, 334-368.
40.
Adler G, Buie D: Aloneness and borderline psychopathology: the possible relevance of child development issues. Int J Psychoanal. 1979, 60: 83-96.PubMed
41.
Buie D, Adler G: Definitive treatment of borderline personality. Int J Psychoanal Psychother. 1982, 9: 51-87.PubMed
42.
Wilkinson-Ryan T, Westen D: Identity disturbance in borderline personality disorder: An empirical investigation. Am J Psychiatry. 2000, 157: 528-541. 10.1176/appi.ajp.157.4.528.CrossRefPubMed
43.
Metzinger T: Being no one. 2003, Cambridge/Mass: MIT Press
44.
Legrand D, Perrine R: What is self-specific? Theoretical investigations and critical review of neuroimaging results. Psychol Rev. 2009, 116: 252-282.CrossRefPubMed
45.
Damasio AR: The self comes to mind. 2010, New York: Viching
46.
Ruby P, Colette F, D’Argembeau A, Péters F, Degueldre C, Balteau E, Luxen A, Maquet P, Salmon E: Perspective taking to assess self-personality: what's modified in Alzheimer's disease?. Neurobiol Aging. 2009, 30: 1637-51. 10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2007.12.014. Epub 2008 Feb 6CrossRefPubMed
47.
Lesser AH: Dementia and personal identity. Dementia. Mind, meaning. Edited by: Hughes JC, Louw SJ, Sabat SR. 2006, New York: Oxford University Press, 55-61.
48.
49.
Simmel G: The philosophy of money. 1978, Boston: Routledge & Kegan Paul, (1st ed. German: Philosophie des Geldes, 1900). Transl. by Bottomore T & Frisby D
50.
Rosa H:Beschleunigung. Die Veränderung der Zeitstrukturen in der Moderne. Frankfurt. 2005, Frankfurt a.M: Suhrkamp.
51.
King V: Umkämpfte Zeit – Folgen der Beschleunigung in Generationenbeziehungen. Zeitgewinn und Selbstverlust. Folgen und Grenzen der Beschleunigung. Edited by: King V, Gerisch B. 2009, Frankfurt a.M: Campus, 40-62.
52.
Paris J: Social factors in the personality disorders: A biopsychosocial etiology and treatment. 1996, Cambridge: Cambridge University PressCrossRef
53.
Giddens A: Modernity and self-identiy: Self and society in the late modern age. 1991, London: Polity
54.
Sennett R: The corrosion of character: The personal consequences of work in the new capitalism. 1998, New York: Norton
55.
Dornes M: Zum Strukturwandel der Persönlichkeit in der Spätmoderne.Übergänge – Konstanz und Veränderung. Psychotherapie & Sozialwissenschaft, Volume 14. Edited by: Sollberger D. 2012, 17-36.
56.
Kernberg OF: Overview and critique of the classification of personality disorders proposed for DSM-V. Swiss Arch Neurol Psychiatry. 2012, 163: 234-238.
57.
Sollberger D: Über einige "Dunkelheiten" in Kants Kategoriendeduktion. Zeitschrift für philosophische Forschung. 1994, 48: 69-89.
Metadata
Title
On identity: from a philosophical point of view
Author
Daniel Sollberger
Publication date
01-12-2013
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health / Issue 1/2013
Electronic ISSN: 1753-2000
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/1753-2000-7-29

Other articles of this Issue 1/2013

Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health 1/2013 Go to the issue

Research

Influence of early regulatory problems in infants on their development at 12 months: a longitudinal study in a high-risk sample

Research

Assessing change in the behavior of children and adolescents in youth welfare institutions using goal attainment scaling

Research

Effect of gene, environment and maternal depressive symptoms on pre-adolescence behavior problems – a longitudinal study

Erratum

Erratum to: Differences between children and adolescents who commit suicide and their peers: A psychological autopsy of suicide victims compared to accident victims and a community sample

Research

Prevalence, comorbidity and predictors of anxiety disorders in children and adolescents in rural north-eastern Uganda

Editorial

On identity