THE CONCEPT OF BORDERLINE CONDITIONS - A CRITICAL COMMENT ON VALIDITYISSUES

It is pointed out that many published empirical studies on the issue o f borderline conditions suffer from methodological shortcomings due to the prevailing empiricist simplification of research. Attention is dr awn to the fact that the current psychiatric research in classificatio n issues is dominated by an exaggerated quest for reliability at the e xpense of concern with validity issues. Concepts of operational criter ia, polythetic-prototypic systems, and epistemic peculiarities of psyc hiatric, clinical typification are briefly exposed. It is suggested th at future scientific progress in the area of personality research must take into account these general methodological considerations: repote ntiate clinical-phenomenological observation, include prototypical app roaches, extend studied samples with subjects drawn from the general p opulation and import insights from personality trait research in norma l psychology. Some of the claims of Gunderson and Torgersen (this volu me) are discussed.