Key Arguments

• Freud notes that ego’s object identifications "gain the upper hand, become too numerous, and too strong and incompatible with each other, so a pathological outcome lies nearby."
• He proposes that in such cases "It can lead to a fragmentation of the Ego, as the individual identifications are locked off from each other through resistances," sketching a mechanism of splitting.
• He speculates that "perhaps it is the secret behind cases of the so-called multiple personality, 66 that the individual identifications alternately usurp the consciousness."
• He also mentions a less extreme outcome: "Even if it does not go so far, the subject of conflicts between the various identifications arises, in which the Ego splits apart, conflicts, which ultimately cannot be described as pathological throughout," acknowledging that ego-splitting conflicts can be normal as well as pathological.

Source Quotes

It is a digression from our goal and yet cannot be avoided, we must turn our attention for a moment to linger on the Ego’s object identifications. These gain the upper hand, become too numerous, and too strong and incompatible with each other, so a pathological outcome lies nearby. It can lead to a fragmentation of the Ego, as the individual identifications are locked off from each other through resistances, and perhaps it is the secret behind cases of the so-called multiple personality, 66 that the individual identifications alternately usurp the consciousness.

These gain the upper hand, become too numerous, and too strong and incompatible with each other, so a pathological outcome lies nearby. It can lead to a fragmentation of the Ego, as the individual identifications are locked off from each other through resistances, and perhaps it is the secret behind cases of the so-called multiple personality, 66 that the individual identifications alternately usurp the consciousness. Even if it does not go so far, the subject of conflicts between the various identifications arises, in which the Ego splits apart, conflicts, which ultimately cannot be described as pathological throughout.

It can lead to a fragmentation of the Ego, as the individual identifications are locked off from each other through resistances, and perhaps it is the secret behind cases of the so-called multiple personality, 66 that the individual identifications alternately usurp the consciousness. Even if it does not go so far, the subject of conflicts between the various identifications arises, in which the Ego splits apart, conflicts, which ultimately cannot be described as pathological throughout. Regardless how the character’s later resistance against the influences of the abandoned object cathexes shapes out, the effects of the first identifications made at the earliest ages are general and sustainable.

Key Concepts

• These gain the upper hand, become too numerous, and too strong and incompatible with each other, so a pathological outcome lies nearby.
• It can lead to a fragmentation of the Ego, as the individual identifications are locked off from each other through resistances, and perhaps it is the secret behind cases of the so-called multiple personality, 66 that the individual identifications alternately usurp the consciousness.
• Even if it does not go so far, the subject of conflicts between the various identifications arises, in which the Ego splits apart, conflicts, which ultimately cannot be described as pathological throughout.

Context

A digression in Chapter III where Freud explores the possible pathological and non-pathological consequences of excessive or conflicting identifications for ego unity.