IJSP Number 7, 2025

International Journal of Supervision in Psychotherapy, Number 7, 2025 Page | 55 group. Since the principles are acquired under pressure, they are random and inconsistent with one another, without the individual’s being aware of the discrepancy.” [11] As it is easy to understand, the pseudo-self is just an amalgam of ideas or opinions, stereotypes and various hear-sayings unfiltered and adopted just because they are representative or trendy in our social surrounding. Moreover, in adopting them we do not just fashion and model our intellect accordingly, but by doing so we show everybody (ourselves included) where our loyalties lie. Nevertheless, every socialisation has not only its bright side but also its own shadow and handicap. Usually, the shadow part of every socialisation, which presupposes the integration of individuality under the levelling influence of a group, is not discussed very often. Ultimately, the best that socialisation can attain is erasing individuality; as such, total socialisation and integration can be implemented solely by annihilation of every trace of individuality with the end result of collectivisation. The best examples from the animal kingdom for such a successful performance are insects such as bees, ants or termites. Pretty much the same thing in human societies looks like the Third Reich or Stalinist Soviet Union. In those types of societies, the socialisation process is more or less complete, and, as such, individualities tend to disappear behind the collective standards put forward by mass-psychology. It goes without saying that such social success can be achieved solely on the ‘solid foundations’ the model of pseudo-self can provide and promote. Unfortunately for us, we see a rise of the same tendencies of collectivisation by the pressure of the marketplace where pseudo-selves are fabricated on-line in order to consume all the cheap goods so easily produced. Today, wherever we look, we only have facades, mere pretences of selves, reduced to insignificancy – at least from a social point of view. Behind the superficial masks of pseudo-selves , there is not very much to be found, at least nothing that can be called personal or belonging to a well-defined individuality. Always in harmony with the peer group, the pseudo-self dissolves into the collective values in which it dwells and from which it feeds in order to maintain itself as a pliable and flexible pseudo- entity. On the other hand, the more harmoniously it is integrated in the group mentality – by an all-engulfing self-importance –, the more estranged it is from itself and its own self esteem. The ‘warmth’ it feels in the midst of the group is the only energy source it has in order to be nurtured and to survive. It is the survival of a strange entity that has to be integrated in the collective in order to be somebody or at least someone. In Bowen’s own words: “The pseudo-self can be increased by a congenial relationship and emotional approval and decreased by a negative relationship or disapproval. An index of pseudo-self is the degree to which people act, pretend, and use external appearance to influence others and to feign postures that make them appear more or less adequate or important than they really are.” [12] As we see, it is a lot about posturing and pretending that the pseudo-self puts on display. Such a mask does at least two things: 1) it hides the inner emptiness and psychological weakness of the individual that wears it, and 2) it functions as a presentable and acceptable social interface for somebody who does not have very much of a real self to present to the world. All kinds of inferiority feelings and complexes hide behind the adaptable mask of the pseudo-self . Although weak, inappropriate and polluted by complexes or the shear emptiness of a lost soul, such an individual governed by the pseudo-self can present oneself