The Masks We Wear: Through the Lens of Persona, Masking, and Code-Switching
This is the time of year when people who celebrate Halloween begin to think about their costumes or maybe they already have their costume picked out by this point. Some of these costumes may include a mask to create the desired effect. Masks, however, serve other purposes besides dressing up for Halloween, and some of these purposes and variants will be discussed in this post.
Persona
As we begin the mask discussion, let’s review the idea of “persona” introduced by Jung. Here a few key concepts about the persona (Toyoda, n.d.):
The appearance that people give others.
Informed by how people want to be seen.
A complicated system of interactions between an individual and the surrounding society.
Specifically designed to create an impression and to also hide one’s true nature.
It is not individual, rather it is collective.
Let’s use an example to illustrate the persona. Take a working caregiver/parent. This person can put on their “social working mask” when they go into their place of employment and another more “family-oreinted mask” when they are at home. It is possible for this caregiver/parent to potentially identify too much with their “social working mask” that they forgot to take it off at home bringing some of their working tendencies into their family life, which may not be appropriate depending on the tendency.
Masking
Have you heard the term masking? Masking, also referred to as camouflaging or compensating, is when a person, intentionally or unintentionally, hides or represses signs or symptoms of a mental health condition with the express purpose of blending in or adapting to a world that favors neurotypical individuals. Masking, as a concept, can be applied several different ways, but it is often used in the context of neurodiversity.
Examples of how masking may show up include but are not limited to:
Hiding stimming behaviors.
Taking time to practice and rehearse what to say and how to act in social situations.
Forcing one’s self to engage in eye contact even if it is uncomfortable.
Ultimately, masking is more about safety to help prevent discrimination or being perceived as an incompetent person. There is a high cost for masking, which includes potential for mental health problems (Miller et al., 2021). Additionally, recent research has suggested that there may be differences between people who identify as a man or women and their reasons for exhibiting masking (Alaghband-Rad et al., 2023).
Code-Switching
Our last concept for this blog post is code-switching. Often also referred to as the chameleon effect, code-switching is a strategy that individuals use to adjust their self-presentation in a variety of contexts, situations, and environments based on societal expectations and norms. One may adjust their speech, appearance, body language, or even their cultural expression. We see code-switching happen around a variety of identities including but not limited to:
Race
Ethnicity
Gender
Sexuality
Age
Socioeconomic Status
Disability Status
Examples of code-switching might be a bilingual person using English at work and Spanish at home or an African American using Standard American English in professional settings and at home using African American Vernacular English (AAVE).
Why might someone code-switch conscious or unconsciously? Some of the factors that may influence the decision to code-switch include but are not limited to:
Awareness of stereotypes connected with how they speak.
The audience or the person or people they are speaking to.
Ability to gauge how they are being perceived.
The feeling that they may be judged or discriminated against in the environment.
Mask Exploration
Now that we discussed a few concepts, let’s explore how people have referred to the idea of the masks we wear.
“We all wear masks, and the time comes when we cannot remove them without removing some of our own skin.”
-André Berthiaume
“Love takes off masks that we fear we cannot live without and know we cannot live within.”
-James Baldwin
“The closing years of life are like the end of a masquerade party, when the masks are dropped.”
-Cesare Pavese
"Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.”
-Oscar Wilde
"You wear a mask for so long, you forget who you were beneath it.”
-Jim Morrison
These quotes offer a peek into the different perspectives people have about masks. The range is vast, including masks becoming part of us, their power of love to remove masks, the power of vulnerability,and how hiding behind a mask may encourage different types of speech. So it seems that maybe even outside of Halloween masks are a part of our lives and a topic that we must explore related to our mental health.
A person wearing a mask. The mask has jewels on it and is cracked under the eyes. The image is gray scale.
take action today moment:
Consider what you have just read. We have been on a journey looking at the role of masks related to mental health, and, honestly, we only brushed the surface. One exercise you may want to consider is writing or drawing a reflection about your reaction and understanding about the different quotes above. These quotes offer us a good jumping off point to dive into deep exploration because so much could be said about each from different perspectives. Another suggestion is to reflect on how masks appear in your own life. What role do they play? Are they serving you or not serving you?
Learn More About the Persona, Masking, and Code-Switching:
Five Reasons Why People Code-Switch
Code-Switching Is Not Trying to Fit in to White Culture, It’s Surviving It
The Cost of Code Switching | Chandra Arthur | TEDxOrlando
What Is Masking? And What’s the Harm?
Suppressing Emotions or Behaviors? You Might Be 'Masking'
References
Alaghband-Rad, J., Hajikarim-Hamedani, A., & Motamed, M. (2023). Camouflage and masking behavior in adult autism. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 14, 1108110. https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychiatry/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1108110/full
Miller, D., Rees, J., & Pearson, A. (2021). “Masking is life”: Experiences of masking in autistic and nonautistic adults. Autism in Adulthood, 3(4), 330-338.
Toyoda, S. (n.d.). Persona. International Association for Analytical Psychology. https://iaap.org/jung-analytical-psychology/short-articles-on-analytical-psychology/persona-2/