Much of Winnicott's theoretical work is dedicated to the examination of this crisis, and to the ways in which the language of psychoanalysis (both verbal and non-verbal) can help the patient towards a recovery or discovery of this hidden self, and allow him or her to exist as if for the first time. Often, the true self may be lost or hidden from the individual herself, so that life may have little real meaning for that person, however much appearances may suggest the contrary. This is common knowledge, as Winnicott clearly states, but the originality of his paper lies in the attempt to understand why, for certain people, the division between these two polarities of being is so great that the true self remains split off from the world, and the individual is only able to exist in a state of compliance. Winnicott draws attention to the ways in which individuals have the capacity to hide their true natures behind what he refers to as the false self. In his paper, 'Ego Distortion in Terms of True and False Self' (1960), the British psychoanalyst D.
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