Identified patient

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Identified patient (IP) is a clinical term often used in family therapy discussion. It describes one family member in a dysfunctional family who is used as an expression of the family's authentic inner conflicts. As a family system is dynamic, the overt symptoms of an identified patient draw attention away from the "elephants in the living room" no one can talk about which need to be discussed. If covert abuse occurs between family members, the overt symptoms can draw attention away from the perpetrators.

The identified patient is a kind of diversion and a kind of scapegoat. Often a child, this is "the split-off false carrier of a breakdown in the entire family system," which may be a transgenerational disturbance or trauma.^[1] While the concept has evolved beyond Jung's original interpretation, some modern authors still use the term to describe a family member who is blamed for the family's problems, even though all members experience mental illness, rather than the one officially labeled as mentally ill – positing that the IP may actually be the least troubled member of a dysfunctional family nexus.^[2]