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Shame, compassion, and the "borderline" personality

D L Nathanson1

  • 1Silvan S. Tomkins Institute, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

The Psychiatric Clinics of North America
|December 1, 1994
PubMed
Summary

The article reinterprets borderline personality disorder symptoms as expressions of shame, challenging traditional drive theory perspectives. This affect theory approach suggests a societal misunderstanding of shame may underlie the diagnosis.

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Area of Science:

  • Psychology
  • Psychiatry
  • Affect Theory

Background:

  • Individuals diagnosed with "borderline" often exhibit extreme emotionality.
  • Existing frameworks, like Kernberg and Kohut's, explain these emotions via drive theory.
  • This perspective traces all emotions to "drive forces gone awry."

Purpose of the Study:

  • To propose an alternative explanation for the emotionality observed in borderline personality disorder.
  • To re-examine the diagnostic construct of "borderline" through the lens of affect theory.
  • To explore the role of shame in the presentation of these symptoms.

Main Methods:

  • Analysis of existing psychoanalytic theories (drive theory vs. affect theory).
  • Conceptual re-framing of borderline symptoms.
  • Exploration of shame psychology.

Main Results:

  • Viewing borderline symptoms through affect theory suggests they are expressions of and defenses against shame.
  • This perspective offers a potential explanation for the wide range of affective expression.
  • The "borderline" diagnosis may stem from a misunderstanding of shame psychology.

Conclusions:

  • The concept of "borderline" illness might be a construct arising from a misinterpretation of shame.
  • Borderline symptoms could be artifacts of societal misunderstanding of shame.
  • An affect theory approach provides a novel framework for understanding these complex emotional states.

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