The roots of gendered identity and the ability to think

These notes explore the link between having a mind of one's own and having one's own gender. In normal sexual development the conviction that “I am a girl” or “I am a boy” is rooted in the experience of being wanted by the parents - of being wanted as a girl or as a boy. Through a clinical vignette, I show how when this experience fails, it has profound consequences on the development of the ego and on the ability to think. It is then the work of analysis to establish an environment in which the patients can express their profound needs in order to enable them to shed the false self that has protected them and to separate from their past. When reality does not need to be denied, the capacity to think can develop.