A contribution to the concept "the exception" as a developmental phenomenon

The sense of "entitlement" or of being an exception has been noted in people who have suffered from severe childhood deformities or from other forms of severe deprivation. In such cases it constitutes a restitution for earlier suffering. In this vignette from the treatment of a patient who, because of sexual abuse by her mother, did not feel that she owned her own genitals, the sense of entitlement represented a developmental step toward ownership of her own body.