Borderline Personality: From Self Limits to Body Limits

Abstract

Background:  In  a  psychodynamic  pers-pective, one of the essential aspects of borderline  personality  is  the  insufficient  self integration, which  often  results  in  a  poor relation  with  the  body  and  self-destructive behaviours.Aims: We intend to approach self development in borderline personality, understand the  importance  of  the  body  in  its development, as well as the role of self-mutilating behaviour  in  the relationship  between  self and body.

Methods:  Non  systematic literature  review based on Otto Kernberg and Didier Anzieu theories.

Results  and  Conclusions:  On  the  one hand, we find that in borderline personality splitting remains the predominant defence mechanism, preventing  proper  differentia-tion between self and object, as well as the integration of good and bad aspects of self and object. Moreover, the concept of “skin-ego”, defined by Didier Anzieu, says that the tactile sensibility is an Ego and thought or-ganizing model and, in borderline personality, the development of this body envelope is severely compromised. Self-mutilation is, simultaneously, an attempt to re-establish the boundaries  of  self  and  a  communication type open to intersubjectivity that, although contains  a  destructive  aspect,  enables self repair.