Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 9, 2026

Use of a Psychophysiological Script-driven Imagery Experiment to Study Trauma-related Dissociation in Borderline Personality Disorder
Published on: March 8, 2018
Developmental precipitants of borderline personality disorder
Abigail A Baird1, Heather B Veague, C Elizabeth Rabbitt
1Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH 03755, USA. abigail.a.baird@dartmouth.edu
Abstract:
Traditional theories regarding the etiology of borderline personality disorder have focused on poor attachment figures and/or traumatic experience. The present review posits an additional pathogenic course for this disorder. Specifically, the proposed mechanism involves a basic disruption of the neural hardware that supports the formation and maintenance of unconscious emotional memory, hardware essential for the formation of early attachments. It is further theorized that this early disruption has ongoing effects on both behavioral and concomitant neural development. Within this model, adolescence is described as a period of intense change that serves as the tipping point for the onset of borderline personality disorder.
Related Concept Videos
Borderline Personality Disorder
Genetic and Environmental Contributions
Borderline Personality...
Oppositional Defiant Disorder
Diagnostic Criteria and...
Psychological and Sociocultural Causes of Schizophrenia
Bipolar Disorder
Conduct Disorder
Socioemotional Development during Infancy
Primary Temperament Types
Stella Chess...