[Borderline disorders in childhood and adolescence]

Borderline disorders are situated in the area between neurosis and (schizophrenic) psychosis. In psycho-analytical terms, a "borderline personality organization" is characterized by the following criteria: weak sense of identity, poor reality control, permeable ego boundaries, multifarious defense reactions to impulsivity, disturbed object-relatedness with inappropriate relationship to the environment, and the assumption of a disorder/trauma during early childhood. Some 90% of the children have a history of traumatization in the past, e.g. a severe illness or sexual abuse. Various models are used to explain the multifarious disorders. What can be compensated in childhood via so-called "emergency maturation" and adaptation to the prevailing situation, is far more difficult from early adolescence onward. Then, external regulators, such as alcohol or drugs play a greater role in the re-establishment of inner equilibrium.