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ego identity

1. in psychoanalytic theory, the experience of the self as a recognizable, persistent entity resulting from the integration of one’s unique ego-ideal, life roles, and ways of adjusting to reality.

2. the gradual acquisition of a sense of continuity, worth, and integration that Erik Erikson believed to be the essential process in personality development. See Erikson’s eight stages of psychosocial development. See also identity.

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Psychology term of the day

July 27th 2024

primary insomnia

primary insomnia

in DSM–IV–TR, a sleep disorder characterized by difficulty in initiating or maintaining a restorative sleep to a degree in which the severity and persistence of the sleep disturbance causes clinically significant distress, impairment in a significant area of functioning, or both. The disorder is not caused by a general medical condition or the effects of a substance and is not exclusively an aspect of another sleep disorder or mental disorder. It is termed insomnia disorder in DSM–5. See dyssomnia. Compare primary hypersomnia.