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These volumes contain a large collection of articles by leading contributors to the psychoanalytic perspective on diagnosis, psychodynamics, and treatment of borderline patients. The collection was inspired by three major conferences: 'The Borderline Syndrome: Differential Diagnosis and Psychodynamic Treatment' at UCLA in March 1981; 'Dialogues on the Borderline' at the Institute of Pennsylvania Hospital in April 1981; and 'Narcissistic and Borderline Disorders: Current Perspectives' at UCLA in October 1982. The editors noted that contributions from these conferences represented a broad range of viewpoints, and yet areas of congruence and consensus seemed to emerge. Convergence of opinion was often obscured by different terminology employed by various contributors. On the other hand, some significant differences among perspectives were concealed by the use of similar language. A major goal of this collection, 'to highlight just where these crucial areas of consensus and controversy lie', is met successfully by the editors' selection of papers and the organization of their summary chapters.
An introduction outlines the editors' 'key questions' concerning diagnosis, aetiology, characteristic psychodynamics, and treatment considerations. It provides the reader with a useful organizing grid along which to compare various authors' perspectives. The editors return to these key questions in summary chapters which cross-reference, compare, and contrast the views offered in the 34 individual chapters contained in the collection. These summaries help the reader sort through the unavoidable redundancies and the variations in presentation and style encountered in a multiple author collection, and can be used to identify readings which are most pertinent to a particular concern or question. The editors recognize that although the articles are organized into five parts, the title or placement of an article may not fully indicate its contents. For example, an article b