DEVELOPMENTAL CRISIS IN EARLY ADULTHOOD: A ...

c) The Over-Identified Dysfunction: When Persona Takes Over
A third way in which a persona can become problematic is if it turns from a
functional exteriority to the self, used sparingly for impression management and rolebased
interaction, into something that becomes the whole self. In this condition one
no longer has a persona, but is that persona, and identity therefore becomes an act.
The commandeering of the self by the persona can lead to an atrophy of the inner self,
with all its personal and idiosyncratic preferences, values, goals and aspirations. In
this over-identified condition, violation of conventions puts the self’s existence in
jeopardy, for the self now exists in those conventions that shape the persona. This
leads to a very rigid sense of self that is intolerant of non-conformist or eccentric
behaviour.
Mark implies this over-identified dysfunction by suggesting his pre-crisis
identity was defined by his work role: “When I was at RSPG it was very clear, when
people said ‘who are you?’ I would say ‘I am an RSPG consultant’.” 7 (p.18)
Frank also implies an over-identified persona by using a metaphor of walls of ice
around him which he could not get out of:
“I didn’t know how to get out of it. I didn’t know how to get out of the walls of ice,
because they were too thick. At that point it is just force of habit – you just don’t
know how to relate naturally to people.” (p.18)
Several quotes from marketing executive Rob lucidly portray the over-identified
dysfunction, in which self becomes subsumed by persona until the persona is all that
there is left:
“So the persona you build up becomes all of you, so it’s completely consistent with
marketing and false advertising. Unconsciously I chose a career that allowed me to
create a completely false image of myself.” (p.16)
“Now, yeah, of course, I think that false advertising, the whole industry is about that
and creating a false image of self, packaging it and selling it. So I think I became the
industry that I was working in. Then I was completely immersed in what I was doing,
and that is where I got my sense of identity from.” (p.14)
Claire described her persona as “this façade of success and reliability.” (p.3)
Her analogy for this was “a dressing-up box”, from which she would create the right
artificial appearance:
7 Compare this with the similar phrase from Guy in phase 2: “Who was I? I was this network director
for Parnell Bank.” (p.2).
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