Incest and the borderline syndrome: The mediating role of identity.

Abstract

This article reviews psychoanalytic theory, clinical studies, and empirical investigations regarding the pathological effects of father-daughter incest. This literature suggests strong links between childhood incest and serious psychopathological sequelae, particularly borderline personality disorder. I propose a model for understanding the impact of incest, using the concept of identity as a mediating construct. Particular emphasis is placed on the role played by incest in the disruption of the developing boundary between internal and external reality. Such defects may result in the failure of age-appropriate divestment of the illusion of omnipotent control and the inappropriate persistence of efforts to control others. Thus, such disruptions may account for major aspects of borderline syndrome including identity diffusion, affective instability, and primitive defenses. A case vignette is presented as an illustration of the model's cogency with respect to the treatment of a borderline incest victim. Theoretical, treatment, and research implications are noted.Freud's abandonment of the seduction theory has been central to the development of psychoanalytic theory, but it may have discouraged clinicians from pursuing the implication of actual incest. Recent research and clinical studies have identified both immediate and long-term psychopathology associated with childhood incest. 1 An integration of these largely phenomenological accounts with psychoanalytic development theory might lay the foundation for a systematic formulation of the psychological effects of incest. Such a formulation provides direction for an empirically grounded, theoretically sound model by which therapeutic efforts may be informed.Toward such an integration, this article focuses on the relationship between identity disturbance, borderline personality disorder, and incest. I propose that incest potentially disrupts aspects of the separation-individuation pro-Requests for reprints should be sent to Barbara

An ego/object relations approach to treating childhood sexual abuse survivors.

“…The younger the client was when the sexual abuse occurred and the more intense or extensive it was, the more likely it is that such sexual abuse has affected the client’s identity development and interfered with the development of object constancy. Marcus (1989), in focusing on the relationships between identity disturbance, borderline personality, and incest, noted that:…”

Can early childhood trauma be reconstructed from dreams? On the relation of dreams to trauma.

“…~We will skip over the problem of identifying such a patient. Although this problem ha received extensive consideration elsewhere (Marcus, 1989;Sherkow, 1990aSherkow, , 1990bUlma & Brothers, 1988;, it is in no respect a matter of making routine clinica judgments. This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.…”

“…This use of dreams began with Freud (1918) and Nunberg (1932/1955), returned in the 1950s and 1960s (Greenacre, 1953a, 1953b; Niederland, 1965; Rosen, 1955; Sachs, 1967; Stewart, 1969), and has mushroomed in the last decade (Alpert, in press; Bernstein, 1989, 1990; Dowling, 1987; Eyre, 1991; Greenberg & van der Kolk, 1987; Jucovy, 1986; Kramer, 1990; Lisman-Pieczanski, 1990; Marcus, 1989; Myers, 1989; Raphling, 1990; Schuker, 1979; Sherkow, 1990a, 1990b; Williams, 1987). In each of these reports, dreams are used as a central or primary source of evidence in the analytic reconstruction of repressed childhood trauma.…”

An incestuous development: A study of severe psychopathology in a fictive adolescent from In Treatment.

“…These intrusions can disrupt the stabilization of these boundaries between internal and external, and also the mobilization of active efforts at mastery, which can foster a sense of autonomy and control over oneself. Incest interferes with the normal developmental processes that sharpen the distinction between internal and external reality, and thus disturb the continuity of identity by inhibiting the establishment of a realistic self-representation and its distinction from the wishful self-representations, leading to deficits in identity diffusion in borderline personality organization (Marcus, 1989). Although Sophie’s personality structure is, by definition, in flux during adolescence, at the time that she is treatment, she is operating at a borderline level of development.…”