You do not currently have permission to view the full text for this document. Please sign in to an account with an active subscription or contact support.
Current theories and psychological test findings on borderline disorders reveal that there are patients whose clinical behaviors are similar to one another; they are afflicted with such symptoms of emotional instability as intense problematic interpersonal relationships, and a tendency to injure themselves or to set up situations in which they are victimized. At best, these patients are difficult to treat. They manifest traits representative of various personality disturbances (see, e.g., American Psychiatric Association Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 3rd ed.), as well as severe affective disorders. At times, they appear schizophrenic; often, their behavior is neurotic. As they are in transition, they cannot be diagnosed at a given moment in time, except by inference from a longitudinal study of their behavior, and by an analysis of the transference and countertransference that is being experienced.
In this author's opinion, many psychological test findings lack reliability and validity and there is no basis for the label borderline disorder as a stable, discrete entity, at least not yet.