SPLITTING AS A CONSEQUENCE OF SEVERE ABUSE IN CHILDHOOD

Kernberg described the splitting of self and object perceptions into ' 'good'' and ''bad'' cohorts as characteristic of borderline patients. In this article, two extensive psychoanalytic vignettes are presented that suggest that a similar splitting occurs in some patients sufferin g from the after effects of childhood abuse, even though these patient s do not appear otherwise to be borderline. The two populations of pat ients are compared and contrasted.