Egosyntonic and Egodystonic - Applicability

Applicability

Many personality disorders are considered to be egosyntonic and are, therefore, difficult to treat. Anorexia nervosa, a difficult-to-treat Axis I disorder, is also considered egosyntonic because many of its sufferers deny that they have a problem.

Obsessive compulsive disorder is considered to be egodystonic as the thoughts and compulsions experienced or expressed are not consistent with the individual's self-perception, meaning the patient realizes the obsessions are not reasonable.

The egosyntonic and egodystonic concepts are studied in detail in abnormal psychology; while 'the notion of ego syntony plays an important part in psychoanalytic ego psychology'.