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[[Psychic ]] [[structure ]] defines the dominant organization of an [[individual]]'s [[mind]], manner of establishing relationships, and way of dealing with conflicts. Structure must consequently be seen as a [[whole]]. It must also be seen as fundamental, registering its influence at a level deeper than what is [[apparent ]] in the individual's [[personality]], [[character]], and manner. It is not innate, however. Individual psychic structure [[history ]] is combined with hereditary or [[biological ]] factors, since structure and genetics are not mutually exclusive.

Structure retains a [[unity ]] and an immutable [[form]], according to [[Freud ]] in New Introductory Lectures on [[Psycho]]-[[Analysis ]] (1933a [1932]), where he compares the ego to a crystal that is formed and also breaks along certain lines. Yet it is not invariable, because it is a [[living ]] organization that is constantly adapting, and because it can fail to maintain its equilibrium in certain modes of decompensation.

In effect, components of the dominant conflict—castration conflict—[[castration]] [[anxiety]], [[loss ]] of the [[object]], or problems of identity—simultaneously explain the origins of psychic structure, its points of fragility, and the form of breakdown, through [[neurosis]], [[depression]], or [[psychosis]]. Depending on the structure in question, the defenses put into play will take on different [[meanings ]] while sometimes retaining the same form: [[projection ]] in the [[phobic ]] [[subject ]] is not the same as in the delusional subject. Also, [[symptoms ]] insufficiently define the psychic structure, according to Jean Bergeret in La [[violence ]] et la vie (Violence and [[life]]; 1994). While [[obsession ]] occurs more frequently in depressed [[patients]], it is also [[present ]] in many cases of psychosis, where it plays a different [[role]], and it is also capable of becoming dominant in an obsessive structure, just as protest or the [[demand ]] for vindication can be permanently inscribed in a [[paranoid ]] structure.

The typical [[stability ]] of [[neurotic]], [[psychotic]], or [[perverse ]] [[structures ]] contrasts with the uncertainty of borderline organizations, where a [[narcissistic ]] fragility produces a specific type of instability—"unstable states, [[stable ]] structure," as Daniel Widlöcher put it in his foreword to Otto Kernberg's book on borderline [[conditions]]. Lastly, [[psychosomatic ]] breakdown is caused by [[lack ]] of structure, unless structure is considered at the level of [[organic ]] function, which is no longer exactly a [[mental ]] phenomenon.

In all cases, the unity of psychic structure can be defined according to different perspectives, which may converge at various points but do not completely overlap. For example, there are [[pregenital ]] structures, with their archaic, [[oral]], or [[anal ]] relational modalities, and [[genital ]] structures, with their more refined [[oedipal ]] apprehension of the object. Taken together, these different notions of structure offer a less nosographic, more [[dynamic ]] approach to the [[notion ]] of structure, as Maurice Bouvet (1967) explained.