Essential Papers on Borderline Disorders: One Hundred Years at the Border

by Michael H. Stone

So much literature has accumulated, over so long a period, on borderline conditions in psychiatry, that the time has come for an anthology. Hence this book. It is not an altogether pleasant task preparing the collection of articles that makes up such an anthology, since one is aware at the outset of pleasing only a few--while offending many--authors, both living and dead, since many more works must be excluded than selected. In this anthology, the author noticed that while he chose some very prominent author for inclusion, others even more prominent could allude to only obliquely because they had only a little to say that bore directly on borderline conditions. Some of the great articles do not mention the word 'borderline.' And some of the older articles that do use the word, are not great.

Genres: Psychology, Psychoanalysis

Hardcover

First published February 1, 1986

About the author

Michael H. Stone, MD (New York, NY) is professor of clinical psychiatry at the Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons. He is the author of ten books, most recently Personality Disorders: Treatable and Untreatable, and over two hundred professional articles and book chapters. He is also the host of Discovery Channel’s former series Most Evil and has been featured in the New York Times, Psychology Today, the Christian Science Monitor, CNN, ABC News, CBS News, NBC News, the New York Post, the London Times, the BBAC, and Newsday, among many other media outlets.

Reviews

[Bryce Howard · Rating 3 out of 5]

TLDR: This book would be excellent for those seeking to learn more about the history of the borderline concept in American psychiatry and psychoanalysis. For those unacquainted with the abstruse concepts and theory of ego/depth psychology, be prepared to encounter a lot of dense verbiage. I would recommend the paper of Michael Stone (the editor of this volume) for the best summary of the material if you merely want a succinct overview.

Also, there were a conspicuous amount of typos in my copy (roughly every couple pages). This combined with the fact that references are often not listed for each of the selected papers makes this a frustrating read.

I read this to get a better grasp of the history behind the borderline concept and to understand its emergence from psychoanalytically-oriented theory into modern day taxonomies of psychopathology, particularly the DSM-III. Other works I have read seem to suggest that the disorder has been imported into the DSM and stripped of much of its meaning -- an account I feel this collection corroborates. While I did not really glean much from the more psychodynamic papers, with all of their eccentric theories and their prolific production of neologisms, I felt the papers by Gunderson, Stone, and Spitzer to be the most illuminating and comprehensive, not straying too far into psychoanalytic theory while paying homage to it when appropriate. Among the psychoanalytic papers, those influenced by object-relations (especially Kernberg's contribution) were the highlights.

[M.V. Clark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating historical and clinical survey of the concept of being 'borderline'. This originally meant the borderline between psychosis and neurosis. It's now been split - appropriately enough - into two rigid diagnostic categories - borderline personality personality disorder and schizoid personality disorder. These no doubt serve a purpose for psychiatrists and some patients, but dive into this book and you will find a richness and creativity in the concept that I imagine many borderline people could benefit from.

[Bonitaj · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are a number of books in the series of 'ESSENTIAL PAPERS' on the various subjects in Psychoanalysis. They encapsulate some of the masters in their particular field of interest or research eg. In the Essential Papers on Narcissism - there are papers from brilliant therapists renown for their work on the topic - from Freud to Kohurt and Kernberg.
These are seminal works and any practising therapist would be proud to either have perused them - or better yet, own a couple.