Student number: 47627441 PYC4802 Assignment 3
Problems and challenges experienced by clinicians in Identifying and diagnosing Borderline
Personality Disorder.
Student: 47627441
UNISA
,Student 47627441 PYC4802 Assignment 3
PLAGIARISM DECLARATION
1. I know that plagiarism is wrong. Plagiarism is using another’s
work and pretending that it is one’s own work.
2. I have used the American Psychological Association (APA) as
the convention for citation and referencing. Each significant
contribution to, and quotation in, this assignment from the work,
or works of other people has been attributed and has been
cited and referenced.
3. This assignment is my own work.
4. I have not allowed, and will not allow, anyone to copy my work
with the intention of passing it off as his or her own work.
5. I acknowledge that copying someone else's assignment, or part
of it, is wrong, and declare that this assignment is my own work
SIGNATURE: Student 47627441
DATE: 3rd June 2019
, Student 47627441 PYC4802 Assignment 3
Problems and challenges experienced by clinicians in Identifying and diagnosing
Borderline Personality Disorder.
Borderline personality disorder, a condition which for many years perplexed Physicians and
Physiatrists alike. Borderline first arose at a time when personality disorders were in their
infancy in terms of research. The prehistoric days of analysis meant patients with neurosis were
deemed treatable and those with psychosis were deemed as untreatable (Gunderson, 2009).
Those who exhibited atypical symptoms were labeled as borderline which was the colloquial for
borderline Schizophrenia, due to their mental state in an unstructed environment.
In 1967 Psychiatry went through a major shift when Kernberg, a Psychoanalyst, spilt patients
who exhibited higher emotional stability and lower disorganization (Exhibiting Neurosis) with
the patients who exhibited lower emotional stability and high levels of disorganization
(Exhibiting Psychosis) (Kernberg, 1967). The identification and splitting of these patients
therefore led to an ideology that borderline personality disorder was a form of Psychopathology
defined by primitive defenses. As previously thought borderline was an emotional response to a
negative stimulus and often linked to PTSD. This was the first major break through within the
identification and formulation of borderline personality disorder.
In 1987 the first edition of the DSM- III had been published, including borderline as a
Personality disorder. Albeit borderline was relatively new and under investigated, there had now
been clarification that borderline was its own disorder separate from Schizophrenia. The DSM-
III had made it emphatically clear that the relationship between schizophrenia and borderline
were highly unlikely and thus disproving the spectrum relationship.
Shortly after Psychiatrists had become aware of the disorder, many despised or refused to treat
borderline patients, this was due to the pejorative description of borderline personality disorder.
According to Klein borderline patients exhibited behaviour that was seen as fickle, egocentric,
irresponsible and love intoxicated (Klein, 1972). Amongst the described by Klein, patients were
seen as wanting to shirk their responsibilities by opting for hospitalization.
Problems and challenges experienced by clinicians in Identifying and diagnosing Borderline
Personality Disorder.
Student: 47627441
UNISA
,Student 47627441 PYC4802 Assignment 3
PLAGIARISM DECLARATION
1. I know that plagiarism is wrong. Plagiarism is using another’s
work and pretending that it is one’s own work.
2. I have used the American Psychological Association (APA) as
the convention for citation and referencing. Each significant
contribution to, and quotation in, this assignment from the work,
or works of other people has been attributed and has been
cited and referenced.
3. This assignment is my own work.
4. I have not allowed, and will not allow, anyone to copy my work
with the intention of passing it off as his or her own work.
5. I acknowledge that copying someone else's assignment, or part
of it, is wrong, and declare that this assignment is my own work
SIGNATURE: Student 47627441
DATE: 3rd June 2019
, Student 47627441 PYC4802 Assignment 3
Problems and challenges experienced by clinicians in Identifying and diagnosing
Borderline Personality Disorder.
Borderline personality disorder, a condition which for many years perplexed Physicians and
Physiatrists alike. Borderline first arose at a time when personality disorders were in their
infancy in terms of research. The prehistoric days of analysis meant patients with neurosis were
deemed treatable and those with psychosis were deemed as untreatable (Gunderson, 2009).
Those who exhibited atypical symptoms were labeled as borderline which was the colloquial for
borderline Schizophrenia, due to their mental state in an unstructed environment.
In 1967 Psychiatry went through a major shift when Kernberg, a Psychoanalyst, spilt patients
who exhibited higher emotional stability and lower disorganization (Exhibiting Neurosis) with
the patients who exhibited lower emotional stability and high levels of disorganization
(Exhibiting Psychosis) (Kernberg, 1967). The identification and splitting of these patients
therefore led to an ideology that borderline personality disorder was a form of Psychopathology
defined by primitive defenses. As previously thought borderline was an emotional response to a
negative stimulus and often linked to PTSD. This was the first major break through within the
identification and formulation of borderline personality disorder.
In 1987 the first edition of the DSM- III had been published, including borderline as a
Personality disorder. Albeit borderline was relatively new and under investigated, there had now
been clarification that borderline was its own disorder separate from Schizophrenia. The DSM-
III had made it emphatically clear that the relationship between schizophrenia and borderline
were highly unlikely and thus disproving the spectrum relationship.
Shortly after Psychiatrists had become aware of the disorder, many despised or refused to treat
borderline patients, this was due to the pejorative description of borderline personality disorder.
According to Klein borderline patients exhibited behaviour that was seen as fickle, egocentric,
irresponsible and love intoxicated (Klein, 1972). Amongst the described by Klein, patients were
seen as wanting to shirk their responsibilities by opting for hospitalization.
