Incest and the borderline syndrome: The mediating role of identity.

This article reviews psychoanalytic theory, clinical studies, and empirical investigations regarding the pathological effects of father-daughter incest. This literature suggests strong links between childhood incest and serious psychopathological sequelae, particularly borderline personality disorder. I propose a model for understanding the impact of incest, using the concept of identity as a mediating construct. Particular emphasis is placed on the role played by incest in the disruption of the developing boundary between internal and external reality. Such defects may result in the failure of age-appropriate divestment of the illusion of omnipotent control and the inappropriate persistence of efforts to control others. Thus, such disruptions may account for major aspects of borderline syndrome including identity diffusion, affective instability, and primitive defenses. A case vignette is presented as an illustration of the model's cogency with respect to the treatment of a borderline incest victim. Theoretical, treatment, and research implications are noted. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Racial microaggressions and the power to define reality.

Replies to comments by T. E. Schnacht (see record 2008-05553-009), K. R. Thomas (see record 2008-05553-010), R. S. Harris Jr. (see record 2008-05553-011), and R. Goodstein (see record 2008-05553-012), on the current authors' original article (see record 2007-07130-001) which discusses racial microaggressions. The reactions by three of the four respondents to our article on racial microaggressions illustrate nicely the invisible nature of aversive racism and how well-intentioned Whites often dismiss, negate, and minimize the experiential reality of People of Color (POC). For too long POC have not had the opportunity or power to express their points of view. For too long their worldviews have been diminished, negated, or considered invalid. For too long they have been told that their perceptions are incorrect, that there are other logical and rational reasons for the actions of others (especially on racial issues), and that their assertions have no empirical validity. These latter responses are clearly evident in the comments by Schacht (2008), Thomas (2008), and Harris (2008), who continue to question the racial realities of POC using a number of false analogies, surface arguments, and flawed reasoning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Comparing borderline definitions: DSM-III borderline and schizotypal personality disorders.

Compared the two types of borderline disorder formally defined by Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-III), borderline personality disorder and schizotypal personality disorder (SPD), at the diagnostic category and individual criterion level. Unlike previous research in this area, which had focused on inpatient and outpatient populations, the sample was a psychometrically defined, nonpatient sample including Ss meeting DSM-III criteria for each disorder. The results indicated that the two diagnostic categories each define a type of borderline with distinctive combinations of features. Perceptual and cognitive distortion, however, seem to be present in both and define an area of overlap between the two disorders. The implications of these findings for the revision of the SPD diagnostic criteria in DSM-III are discussed, and the theoretical separation of two subtypes of borderline personality is affirmed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Transitional relatedness and borderline personality disorder.

This study examined various aspects of transitional relatedness among individuals diagnosed as borderline or antisocial personality disorder. This study was a follow-up to an earlier report (Cooper, 1983) using the Rorschach Transitional Object Scale, which found only marginal support for Modell's clinical hypothesis that the borderline personality disorder involves a developmental arrest at the stage of the transitional object. The authors approached the concept of transitional relatedness as a series of external and internalized modes of relating including the perceptual capacity to distinguish between object and symbol on the Rorschach as well as self-reported current and past reliance on transitional objects and self-soothing activities. The study failed to provide evidence to suggest that reliance on a past or present transitional object per se is a unique or diagnostic feature of the borderline personality disorder. Particular aspects of current transitional relatedness, however, were strongly associated with borderline psychopathology. The clinical and research implications of these findings are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Understanding and treating borderline personality organization.

For many years, clinicians have been puzzled by those nonpsychotic but severely disturbed patients referred to as borderline. Recent work in object-relations theory has suggested that borderline conditions are the result of a failure of integration of the basic personality, leading to a major distortion in the patient's sense of self. Because most of this investigative work is relatively recent, many clinicians are unfamiliar with current theory and clinical observations on the subject. Failure to comprehend these patients' dynamics can lead to treatment catastrophes, whereas understanding of these phenomena may be helpful in dealing with a wide variety of borderline and other clinical problems. The authors present an overview of borderline dynamics and a discussion of 3 major sequelae of these patients' distorted sense of self: "as-if" phenomenon, diffuse sexual identity, and overwhelming aloneness. (37 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Emotional granularity and borderline personality disorder.

This study examined the affective dysregulation component of borderline personality disorder (BPD) from an emotional granularity perspective, which refers to the specificity in which one represents emotions. Forty-six female participants meeting criteria for BPD and 51 female control participants without BPD and Axis I pathology completed tasks that assessed the degree to which participants incorporated information about valence (pleasant–unpleasant) and arousal (calm–activated) in their semantic/conceptual representations of emotions and in using labels to represent emotional reactions. As hypothesized, participants with BPD emphasized valence more and arousal less than control participants did when using emotion terms to label their emotional reactions. Implications and future research directions are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self psychology and the etiology of borderline personality disorder.

Describes borderline personality disorder (BPD) as arising from a restriction in the initial duality of merger and separateness in which the self is left dependent on the merged caregiver for cohesion. Such enfeeblement of self arises from a derailment of the formation of the nuclear self prior to age 3. BPD patients thus have no coherent self, and when threatened with fragmentation from some fissure in close relationships, react with panic and rage. Most characteristic of the defenses of BPD patients is splitting and the resultant idealization and devaluation within relationships. From a self psychology perspective, the BPD patient's self will grow by phase appropriate empathic responsiveness embedded in a matrix of idealizing, mirroring, and alter ego transferences. Treatment should focus on the transference that develops around the patient's striving for independence. A case illustration is presented. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sex bias and the diagnosis of borderline personality disorder.

Criticizes D. Becker and S. Lamb's (see record 1994-29756-001) paper reporting that women are more likely than men to be diagnosed as having a borderline personality disorder (BPD). Results from the previous research of D. A. Adler et al (see record 1991-15353-001), K. A. Henry and C. I. Cohen (see record 1984-06917-001) and M. R. Ford and T. A. Widiger (see PA, Vol 76: 26071), indicate that the gender of a client does not have a statistically significant effect on whether the client is given a diagnosis of BPD. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Hypnoanalysis--with particular emphasis on the borderline patient.

In the first part of this paper a short overview of the history of hypnotherapy and hypnoanalysis, is given. Within the modality of hypnosis, the patient can make contact with his unconscious much faster than in the waking state. Primary process thinking and vivid imagery play a great role. Hypnotic imagery and the hypnotic state per se are "royal roads to the unconscious" on which the hypnoanalyst must attempt to walk with care but also with confidence, so that defenses are not pierced prematurely and the patient can learn to use to the fullest extent his innate healthy coping potential. The second part of the paper deals with the newest development in the field of hypnoanalysis, the treatment of the borderline patient with specialized hypnotic imagery techniques that have been found to help such patients overcome splitting, achieve object constancy, and good internalized object and self representations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attachment, detachment and borderline personality disorder.

In an attempt to expand understanding of more severe pathology, attachment theory, developed by John Bowlby, is applied to borderline personality disorder in adults. Conceptualized as a condition of profound insecure attachment, with extreme vacillations between a desire for proximity and attachment and a dread and avoidance of engagement, borderline pathology reflects traumatic attachment experiences, beginning early in life. Besides the importance of trauma, disturbances in affect regulation and cognitive distortions are emphasized. The secure base of a therapeutic bond provides consistency, reliability, and affirmation while encouraging exploration of separation and loss experiences, both current and past, in order to modify inner working models of oneself and relationships with others. Implications for prevention are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Diagnostic issues in borderline disorders.

Current theories and psychological test findings on borderline disorders reveal that there are patients whose clinical behaviors are similar to one another; they are afflicted with such symptoms of emotional instability as intense problematic interpersonal relationships, and a tendency to injure themselves or to set up situations in which they are victimized. At best, these patients are difficult to treat. They manifest traits representative of various personality disturbances (see, e.g., American Psychiatric Association Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 3rd ed.), as well as severe affective disorders. At times, they appear schizophrenic; often, their behavior is neurotic. As they are in transition, they cannot be diagnosed at a given moment in time, except by inference from a longitudinal study of their behavior, and by an analysis of the transference and countertransference that is being experienced. In this author's opinion, many psychological test findings lack reliability and validity and there is no basis for the label borderline disorder as a stable, discrete entity, at least not yet. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

To the editor.

This letter to the editor discusses the contributions to the field of family psychology that can be made by those theories and research findings of biology, medicine, sociology, and psychology that are not systems oriented. We should not forget that valuable research tools were developed that would have to be discarded if the systems approach reigns. Family psychology should be an integrative field of science--a field encompassing all relevant knowledge from other scientific areas under a family perspective-organizing and expanding it. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Primitive defenses and the borderline patient's perceptions of the psychiatric treatment team.

Investigated the construct validity of several self-report measures of splitting and related primitive defense mechanisms and undertook a preliminary quantitative analysis of the relation of these defenses to here-and-now social perceptions in borderline psychopathology. Based on an integrated framework of object-relations theory, psychoanalytic group psychology, and social cognition theory, the study explored associations between the use of primitive defenses by 31 adult borderline inpatients and their perceptions of the various staff roles that constitute their treatment teams. Reliance on image-distorting defenses and the holding of fragmented images of self as omnipotent and as "bad" were significantly associated with borderlines' perceived proximity to specific members and subgroups of their treatment teams. Results further validate selected measures of primitive defenses. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Nontraumatic pathways to borderline personality disorder.

Clinicians who treat borderline personality disorder (BPD) generally assume that this disorder is caused by childhood abuse. This assumption is strongly supported in the BPD literature, which indicates that the majority of individuals with BPD have suffered emotional, physical, and sexual abuse. What is often missed or simply ignored in discussions of BPD is that this same body of research also suggests that a significant minority of borderline individuals have not suffered childhood abuse. This article reviewed the literature on the prevalence of childhood abuse and BPD, offered a number of hypotheses about nontraumatic pathways to BPD, and briefly considered treatment implications for nontraumatized BPD individuals. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Pharmacotherapy of borderline disorders. A review of the literature

In principle therapy of borderline personality disorder is a psychotherapeutic one. But often situations occur, which make a pharmacological treatment inevitable. The overall contradictory literature is reviewed and a critical overview is given about the psychopharmaca--substance-groups and substances--and their effects in treatment. Finally general recommendations for medication are given.     

Analyzing campus climate studies: Seeking to define and understand.

The term campus climate has become commonplace within higher education. However, there is little consensus on how best to define and measure it. Our study is a qualitative content analysis of 118 campus climate studies. Guided by the conceptual understanding of campus climate put forth by Peterson and Spencer (1990), we explore the nature of campus climate research based upon studies found in a clearinghouse database of faculty campus climate studies. We found that those conducting studies are most often institutional employees. There was no standardization of design or instrumentation in these studies. Studies did not rely on a single definition of campus climate or on any set of best practices for assessing campus climate. Additionally, studies explored various aspects and constituents of the campus--both in and out of the classroom, and for the working environment for faculty and students and occasionally staff and administrators. Implications and specific recommendations for conducting campus climate research based upon extant literature and on findings from the study are included. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Prestage versus defensive splitting and the borderline personality: A Rorschach analysis.

This paper reviews theoretical contributions by Kernberg (1975) and by Stolorow and Lachmann (1980) regarding defensive modes of splitting and suggests possible Rorschach manifestations for a variety of levels of defensive organization among borderline patients. Defensive operations vary among patients with different levels of severity of borderline psychopathology. Specifically, it is proposed that some borderline patients rely on splitting as an active attempt to mitigate the experience of intense ambivalence conflicts toward others, as described by Kernberg; another group of borderline patients is seen as having pathology that revolves around a weakly integrated representational world, poor self-object differentiation, and prestage developmental levels of defense, as described by Stolorow and Lachmann. The Rorschach is a valuable diagnostic tool in distinguishing between psychopathology involving defenses against structural conflict and psychopathology based on an arrest in development at the level of prestage defensive operations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)