IDENTITY INTEGRATION AND EGO PATHOLOGY IN DISTURBED ADOLESCENTS (BORDERLINE, PERSONALITY DISORDER)
Abstract
The present study examined pathological ego functioning in 26 adolescent in-patients diagnosed as having a DSM III borderline personality disorder and 26 adolescent in-patients with other forms of character and personality disorder. The Rorschach and Wechsler Intelligence Scale protocols of the two groups were compared along the dimensions identified by Kernberg as constituting structural criteria for the boundaries personality organization regardless of age. These included disturbances in identity integration, reliance on primitive defensive operations (splitting, projection, and denial), vulnerability to regression from secondary- to primary-process thinking, and lapses in reality testing. The results suggested that in adolescence, the borderline personality represents a more severe form of character pathology than other personality and conduct disorders (excluding schizotypal disorders) and that these disturbances take place in the context of more generalized ego pathology in the borderline adolescent in comparison to the non-borderline. Most striking was the significant association found between disturbances in identity integration and lapses in reality testing in borderline adolescents.
Subject Area
Psychotherapy
Recommended Citation
SALWEN, RICHARD STEVEN, "IDENTITY INTEGRATION AND EGO PATHOLOGY IN DISTURBED ADOLESCENTS (BORDERLINE, PERSONALITY DISORDER)" (1986). ETD Collection for Fordham University. AAI8615727.
https://research.library.fordham.edu/dissertations/AAI8615727
