Borderline Personality Disorder

Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is one of the most controversial diagnoses in psychology today. Since it was first introduced in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), psychologists and psychiatrists have been trying to give the somewhat vague concepts behind BPD a concrete form. Kernberg’s explanation (Otto F. Kernberg, Psychologist) of what he calls Borderline Personality Organization is the most general, while Professor John G. Gunderson, though a psychoanalyst, is considered by many to have taken the most scientific approach to defining BPD. The Diagnostic Interview for Borderlines and the DIB-Revised were developed from research done by Gunderson, Kolb, and Zanarini. Finally, there is the ‘official’ DSM-IV definition.