Scotomization

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The term scotomization, borrowed from ocular pathology, where scotoma refers to a spot in the visual field in which vision is deficient or absent, came into use by young psychiatrists in the 1920s to refer to a lack of awareness of others. René Laforgue, who refers to this origin for the term, proposed the notion in the context of his thinking on schizophrenics and "schizonoia" at the time of his earliest work in psychoanalysis. He believed it would account for his patients' misapprehension of reality, and explained in a letter...