The unbounded self: The striving for reconstructing personality and its clinical impact

Particularly due to technical innovations, we are witnessing an unbounding of reality that is increasingly reflected in an inner striving to get rid of the limitations and boundaries of our own personality by reconstructing it anew. This pursuit of delimitation, dissolution, and blurring of boundaries is seen as a central character trait of the ego-oriented social character. Such a fabrication of a limitless personality doubtless results in a weakening of such psychic abilities as experiencing one's self as a consistent and ambiguous entity, being emotionally attached to oneself and to others, feeling one's own strivings, affects, and emotions, and being guided by one's internalized norms and values. Finally, the impact of this character formation is discussed in regard to clinical and therapeutic issues.