A Dissociation Model of Borderline Personality Disorder

Drawing on the early work of Pierre Janet, author Meares, (emeritus psychiatry at Sydney U., Australia, sets out an original theory on dissociation is the primary feature of borderline personality disorder (BPD). Furthermore, he postulates that dissociative symptoms in BPD have a distinct, observable neural/neurological component. He describes a neural network for the matrix of Self and demonstrates its utility with many case vignettes and dialogs showing how BPD patients experience their symptoms. Some topics explored include the paradox of fusion and disconnectedness, somatization, and paranoid ideas in delusion formation. The author closes with hope for a type of talk therapy that fosters the right-hemisphere function of creating coherence. Annotation c2012 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)