This post returns to our past discussion of various character types; I concentrated on Character descriptions in multiple posts in 2014, covering many of Reich’s types. As some of you know, my method integrates the personality disorders described by James Masterson, M.D. and referenced as “disorders of the self” diagnostic categories in order to amplify Reich’s character typology. These types originate in earlier phases of development and are caused, in part, by attachment impairments before age 3. The borderline, although commonly referenced in psychiatric diagnostic manuals as a series of symptoms, has a unique developmental quagmire described by Dr. Masterson and other object-relations theorists. The borderline is defined not by symptoms, but rather by character structure and related developmental conflicts that never resolved in the psyche and therefore result in inadequate functioning across multiple parameters.

Individuals with Borderline Personality Disorder have not developed an authentic self. Rather they live in their defensive structure and façade – what Masterson called the “false self”. They sacrificed their real self for a pathological relational bargain with parents. Therefore, they manifest impairments in their ability to activate toward goals and personal creativity, and their capacity for responsibility is impaired. They have serious intimacy problems, separation stress, depression and anxiety.