When I speak with James Charney, a psychiatrist at the Yale School of Medicine, he says that people suffering from depersonalisation are
egodystonic, meaning their thoughts and behaviours are in conflict with the needs and goals of the ego.
However, a postpartum woman with OCD may be reluctant to share her
egodystonic thoughts of infant harm.
Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) is characterized by obsessions, which are
egodystonic and unwanted thoughts or impulses, and compulsions, which are repetitive behaviors or mental acts (1).
There is also a case report describing
egodystonic suicidal obsessions occurring as a dose-dependent side-effect of clozapine [16].
One can be a selfprofessed gay religiousrid of
egodystonic homosexualityand stay faithful to the vows, too.
It first was included, then, pursuant to gay protests in the early 1970s, was limited to
egodystonic homosexuality (regretted by the "sufferer"), and then excluded from the DSM altogether for the same reason: politics.
In 1974, the APA membership voted to remove homosexuality from the DSM-II; however, they retained a "sexual orientation disturbance" and "
egodystonic homosexuality" for individuals uncomfortable with their homosexuality (Corcoran & Walsh, 2010).
That is, individuals engaging in compulsive behavior can be said to use their compulsive behavior to avoid/reduce anxiety experienced with the presence of frightening or
egodystonic obsessions (Twohig et al., 2010).
In contrast to the
egodystonic behaviors related to OCD, gambling in PG is often initially egosyntonic or hedonic in nature, although over time the pleasure derived from gambling may diminish.
Metacognitive awareness facilitates the appraisal of thought-mediated experiences as
egodystonic and is therefore essential in the process of therapeutic change.
But maybe this
egodystonic arousal is partly God's responsibility.
Negative cognitions were defined as "any sexual cognition that is experienced as unacceptable, unpleasant and
egodystonic (i.e., uncharacteristic of one's personality)" (p.
