id and Borderline-Personality-Disorder

The concept of borderline personality disorder (BPD) remains problematic despite psychiatrists' general familiarity with its DSM diagnostic criteria. The diagnosis of BPD is frequently based simply on the DSM checklist of traits and symptoms without knowledge of their origins or significance. Misdiagnosis is common, as is lack of recognition of the full complexity of this severe personality disorder and the nature of the vulnerabilities that underlie its myriad forms of pathology. The stresses of ordinary life are often too much for people with BPD. Knowledge of the nature and origins of their stress points, such as their great fear of loss or rejection, is necessary for adequate diagnosis and treatment. The author addresses how signature features of the disorder relate to psychosocial development, how they correlate with failed developmental milestones, and how they can be understood psychodynamically. This is essential knowledge for psychotherapists because the pathological interpersonal relationships of the borderline patient will be repeated and acted out in the transference, whatever the modality or intensity of treatment.

Topics: Borderline Personality Disorder; Ego; Emotions; Humans; Id; Mother-Child Relations; Object Attachment

For many years, the borderline personality disorders have mainly been researched in terms of psychoanalytical theories, such as theories on relations with the object. Nowadays, there are three kinds of concepts that are distinguishable. The first ones are those which are group models, serving attempts to made characteristic sets of qualities, represented by individuals suffering from the borderline personality disorders, more precise. The remaining concepts are models of conflict and deficit, which explain complicated mechanisms of interactions of social, psychological and biological factors, and therefore, contribute to better understanding of the genesis of the symptoms of this disorder. Upon the basis of the attempts made so far in the field of describing the borderline personality disorders, one may indicate certain criteria, representative for the entire group of individuals with this diagnosis, regardless of the assumptions applicable to the genesis of the disorder and its symptoms, even though the population of the infirm suffering from the borderline personality disorders is not internally homogenous. The interest of psychologists, attempting to describe the borderline personality disorders, is focused upon certain sets of qualities, presented as the examples of descriptive models. Among the researchers, working on the issues of the borderline personality disorders in this manner, there are: Gunderson, Kernberg, Kohut, Winnicot, Guntrip, Fairbaim, Adler and Buie.

Topics: Borderline Personality Disorder; Ego; Humans; Id; Psychological Theory; Superego