Discussion Following Dr. Spotnitz' Address

Schwartz-Salant: Oscar Sternbach, our Freudian discussant, has published widely on various subjects with special attention to problems of sado-masochism. He is known for such works as: Sex Without Love and Marriage Without Responsibility and The Pursuit of Happiness and the Epidemic of Depression. He is a widely-respected psychoanalyst. We are privileged to have Oscar Sternbach to offer his comments on Dr. Spotnitz's presentation in the context of the history of psychoanalytic technique from Freud to the present.

Oscar Sternbach, Discussant: Borderline conditions are not disorders which are well circumscribed and definable by certain symptoms or by a definite etiology or by a definite course. There is in fact nothing definite in these conditions, certainly not a definite therapy or a certain technique of handling them. For some time, it seemed that the only thing certain was that they would not respond or they would respond negatively to so-called classic analytic technique. assures us that even that is not certain, but I think borderline conditions owe their present popularity in psychoanalysis to the fact that they make it justifiable to drop classic analytic technique.

To say somebody has a borderline condition is like vaguely saying he is mentally not quite stable, his ego does not function as it should. The borderline and narcissistic patient is often simply designated difficult. His ego does not function normally. One or more important ego functions, affect control, impulse control, integrative capacity is not normal. Borderline conditions were first mentioned after World War II. These malfunctions were described as very serious deviations, but as time went on the concept became more inclusive, until recently could say: “We are all borderline.” Historically, the concept was preceded by the “preoedipal condition” and followed by the “narcissistic pathology,” all of which are similar.

Under the circumstances, it is not surprising that the published prescriptio