ABSTRACT
The alien ( das Fremde ) is in several respects a central theme in psychiatry and psychotherapy. Mental illness takes hold of the affl icted person as an alien aspect that emerges within the self. Something within me confronts me and eludes my control, be it sudden feelings of panic, uncontrollable compulsive thoughts or tormenting voices. In the widest sense, becoming alien (fremd) to oneself is so characteristic of mental illnesses that French psychiatry described them in general with the concept of aliénation mentale .
