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In this paper Rinsley reviews the developmental arrest underlying borderline conditions as they are defined by the author—a proponent of Margaret Mahler's metapsychological theories. Followers of Mahler, including the author, ascribe etiological significance to failure in the early childhood tasks of separation-individuation, as the factor underlying borderline psychopathology. Not every reader will accept this tenet of the Mahler-Rinsley schema, since many give more weight to hereditary/constitutional factors (as necessary-but-not-sufficient preconditions for “borderline” development). However this may be, Rinsley has provided an excellent presentation of psychodynamic-based psychoanalytic nosology. Patterns of mother-infant interaction are emphasized. Borderline conditions are said to be an outgrowth of situations where dependency upon mother was fostered but attempts at independent assertion were experienced as threatening to the mother. Again, while it is debatable how much etiological significance we should attach to this pattern or even how prevalent this kind of abnormal mothering really is in the families of borderline-to-be patients, Rinsley is on solid ground in drawing attention to the frequency with which our borderline patients perceive or recollect—their mothers as having been of this mould. Since these are the kinds of perceptions (or distortions) we confront in treating borderline patients, there is at the very least psychological validity to the position expressed in this paper.