MATERNAL EMPATHY, FAMILY CHAOS, AND THE ETIOLOGY OF BORDERLINE PERSONALITY-DISORDER

Pyschoanalytic writers have traced the etiology of borderline personal ity disorder (BPD) to be preoedipal disturbance in the mother-child re lationship. Despite the prevalence of theories focusing on the role of mothering in the development of BPD, few empirical studies have teste d the hypothesis that borderlines were the recipients Of unempathic mo thering. The current preliminary study compared 13 mothers of borderli ne adolescents with 13 mothers of normal adolescents. This study found that mothers of borderlines tended to conceive of their children egoc entrically, as need-gratifying objects, rather than as individuals wit h distinct and evolving personalities. This study also found that the mothers of borderlines reported raising their daughters in extremely c haotic families struggling to cope with multiple hardships, including divorce and financial worries. The stressful environmental circumstanc es reported by the mothers likely affected the borderline daughters di rectly as well as the mothers' ability to parent effectively and empat hically. The results of this study suggest that, as predicted by psych oanalytic theory, a problematic mother-child relationship may play a s ignificant role in the genesis of borderline pathology; however, the l ife circumstances that contextualize the mother-child relationship als o need to be considered when accounting for the etiology of BPD.