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In several recent publications (Rinsley, 1980a, 1981a, 1981b, 1984), borderline and narcissistic personalities, viewed as trait diagnoses in accordance with psychoanalytic principles, were conceptualized as follows:
The major DSM-III (1980) personality disorders are subsumable under the borderline or narcissistic rubric.
Following Kohut's (1971, 1977) formulations, borderline personality is characterized by a “fragmented, unstable self and selfobjects,” whereas narcissistic personality is characterized by a “stable, cohesive self and selfobjects” (Ornstein, 1974). Hence, the former is considered developmentally closer to the major psychoses, while the latter would be closer to the neuroses.
There exists a continuum of personality disorders (Adler, 1980, 1981), with the borderline personality characterized by a relatively greater degree of psychopathology and the narcissistic personality characterized by a lesser degree of psychopathology. The continuum is based upon developmental determinants.
Individuals with borderline personality disorder labor incessantly to maintain their fragile sense of intactness, to experience themselves as coherent. Those with narcissistic personality disorder “constantly guard against rupture of the cohesive but vulnerable sense of self,