Levels of borderline functioning in children: etiological and treatment considerations

It has been noted frequently in the literature that the term "borderline pathology" denotes a range of disturbances. While borderline patients are characterized by severe object relations problems, there is an extremely wide range of ego functioning in these patients. Stemming from work with borderline children, this paper describes this range of varied functioning and develops inferences, based on clinical material, regarding the etiology of these differences.