Who Am I? And Does It Matter? Integrating Eastern and Western frameworks by Exploring the Relationship Between Nonself Orientations, Self-Discrepancy, and Stress.
May 20, 2026 Yashika Sharma
Nonself orientations, particularly nonattachment, may reduce perceived stress not by shrinking the gap between one's actual and ideal self but by lessening the distress that such gaps cause. In 181 adults, all four nonself measures (nonattachment, nondual embodiment, quiet ego, ego dissolution) correlated negatively with both ideal and ought self-discrepancy. Yet mediation analyses showed only nonattachment had indirect effects on stress through reduced discrepancy-related distress, not through self-discrepancy magnitude itself. Self-discrepancy did not directly correlate with stress, and three nonself measures unexpectedly showed positive associations with stress, suggesting reverse causation or measurement issues.