Therapy Toronto Psychotherapy Definitions

Persona

Persona

Carl Jung coined this term to describe the outer personality that we adopt without recognizing it as a social vehicle to get by in the world.

It is not who we are, but a means of passing through life. If we only live in the persona our sense of our Self becomes very limited.

Therapy can assist us in dealing with the limitations of the persona by expanding the aspects of ourselves that are kept in darkness, the shadow self.

Jung’s concept of the personal can be compared to Heidegger’s concept of The "They".