Redefining Borderline Syndromes as Posttraumatic and Rediscovering Emotional Containment as a First Stage in Treatment

Abstract

This brief review traces the evolution of clinical understanding about borderline syndromes during the last three decades of the 20th century. The focus shifted from descriptive phenomenology in the 1970s to documenting linkages with childhood trauma in the 1980s. In the 1990s, effective and teachable techniques for emotional containment in these conditions were developed and evaluated for efficacy.

Keywords

borderline personality disorder complex post-traumatic stress disorder childhood trauma traumatic dissociation dialectical behavioral therapy

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