At one point in time there may have been a primary caregiver who reacted to you in ways that caused you to change, to minimise or even hide parts of yourself. The reaction causes you to develop certain survival strategies that ultimately meant in your mind that being yourself and expressing individuality was “dangerous" or "unsafe”. Your authentic self - your needs, values and desires - were perhaps, at times, seen as a threat and a form of betrayal in some ways. 

You may have carried this learnt behaviour and harmful beliefs that developed as a result into your adulthood life where you feel the need to change or hide who you are in order to survive - to receive love, to be accepted and to ensure that you would not be left on your own. 

To read more about the False Self, see the following link:

https://katieodonoghue.com/theself/thefalseself