Altered ego states

In Freudian psychology, this expression is used to describe the transient distortion of awareness or perception of the self or parts of the self, of other objects or the surroundings, and consequent feelings of unreality. There may be a distortion of the senses, a feeling of separation between mind and body, parts of the body may seem detached. These states arise to defend the ego against perceptions or ideas which might threaten it at the conscious or unconscious level. There is defensive regression to earlier libidinal and ego modes, the ego "splits" into observing and experiencing portions. Particular examples are [micropsia]

; [déjà vu]

; [depersonalization]

; [derealization]

.