[The borderline syndrome - a sign of our times]

In conclusion, I would like to say until about 30 to 40 years ago, the patients we saw in our clinical practices presented mainly mono-symptomatic disturbances. Now the picture tends to be multi-symptomatic. It is possible that stronger Victorian influences on ego disciplines were responsible for the mono-symptomatic pattern; in any case, at present, the ego-self boundaries seem weakened, more "permissive", yielding and permeable and this may account for the more multi-symptomatic picture.