Disorganized attachment and borderline personality disorder: a clinical perspective

Attach Hum Dev. 2004 Jun;6(2):181-90. doi: 10.1080/14616730410001688202.

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to explore the links between the attachment-theory derived concept of disorganized attachment, and the psychiatric diagnosis of Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). Disorganized attachment can be understood in terms of an approach-avoidance dilemma for infants for whom stressed or traumatized/traumatizing caregivers are simultaneously a source of threat and a secure base. Interpersonal relationships in BPD including those with care givers is similarly seen in terms of approach-avoidance dilemmas, which manifests themselves in disturbed transference/countertransference interactions between therapists and BPD sufferers. Possible ways of handling these phenomena are suggested, based on notion of 'meta-cognitive monitoring', in the hope of re-instating meaning and more stable self-structures, in these patients' lives.

MeSH terms

  • Borderline Personality Disorder / psychology
  • Borderline Personality Disorder / therapy*
  • Humans
  • Object Attachment*
  • Psychoanalytic Therapy / methods*