Unravelling experiences of self: developmental issues in borderline psychopathology
Date
2007-02-26T12:15:51Z
Authors
Hoyle, Georgine
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Abstract
There is a manifest similarity between the disorders of deficient attention and
borderline psychopathology as they are described in the DSM IV. In my experience,
those with borderline psychopathology have a history of problems with attention. This
study seeks to explore the experiential link between the two disorders and how
deficient attention acts as a precipitant factor in the development of borderline
psychopathology. Ten interviews were conducted with adults diagnosed as having
borderline personality disorder with a history of deficient attention. The interviews
were unstructured, audiotaped and transcribed. The transcriptions were analysed
according to the method of thematic content analysis. The transcriptions were also rerepresented
in the testimonial form of life history. The data produced seven categories
of experience, set in an overall context of trauma. Attention formed only one of these
categories. The others were incoherence, incompetence, discord, refraction,
dispossession and persecution. The categories, together with existing literature, were
linked to form a traumatogenic model of the development of borderline
psychopathology. This constitutes an extension of existing literature and is intended to
contribute to the prevention and treatment of both disorders.
Description
Student Number : 8887128 -
PhD thesis -
School of Psychology -
Faculty of Humanities
Keywords
disorders, deficient attention, borderline psychopathology, DSM IV, problems with attention, personality disorder