Book

Kriss, Alexander, author.

Borderline : the biography of a personality disorder / Alexander Kriss, PhD.

Boston : Beacon Press, 2024.

291 pages ; 24 cm.

“What is now called borderline personality disorder (BPD) has been observed since antiquity and has been known by many names, from hysteria to possession, from witchcraft to moral insanity, from multiple personality disorder to the current fraught entry in the DSM-5. These labels have been disproportionately applied to women, and sufferers of BPD continue to be marginalized to this day—deemed ‘difficult’ and ‘untreatable’ even by members of the mental health community. Alexander Kriss interweaves this indispensable history with vivid case studies from his own BPD-centered practice, focusing in particular on a patient he calls Ana. As we follow Ana’s progress toward a healthier life through the lens of the therapy relationship, Kriss’s message is that effective treatment is possible. He also stresses that the borderline exists in all of us—including himself—and that our society’s insistence on a bright line between ‘sick’ and ‘normal’ denies the complexity of human experience and threatens to perpetuate the mistakes of the past. Lavishly researched and artfully written, Kriss’s book finds the borderline in cultural touchstones from the plays of Euripides to the throes of the MeToo movement—and argues passionately for a world that heals and accepts all of us.”-Cover

Borderline personality disorder -- Popular works.

Borderline personality disorder -- History.

Borderline personality disorder -- Patients.

Borderline personality disorder -- Patients -- Anecdotes.

Kriss, Alexander.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction: Collective Psychosis – Prehistory: The First Session – Splits, Hysteria, and the Invention of Psychotherapy: Fifth Century BCE-1885 CE – Psychic Death: Sessions, Weeks 2-19 – Seduction and Fantasy: 1896-1923 – Fears: Sessions, Months 6-10 – Confusion of the Tongues: 1908-1933 – Love: Sessions, Months 10-12 – Identity Crises: 1939-1980 – Self-Discovery: Sessions, Year 2 – Diffusion: 1973-2011 – Normality: Sessions, Year 3 – Integration: 1980-2023 – Borderline: Sessions, Year 6

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616.8581 Kriss 2024

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