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Psychodynamic features in borderline personality disorder identified by a subliminal test, the Defense Mechanism Test
Author(s) -
Sundbom E.,
Kullgren G.,
Armelius B.Å.
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
acta psychiatrica scandinavica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.849
H-Index - 146
eISSN - 1600-0447
pISSN - 0001-690X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-0447.1989.tb01307.x
Subject(s) - subliminal stimuli , borderline personality disorder , psychology , psychodynamics , perception , clinical psychology , personality , personality disorders , rorschach test , projective test , mechanism (biology) , psychotherapist , cognitive psychology , neuroscience , social psychology , philosophy , epistemology , psychoanalysis
Twenty seven psychiatric inpatients, diagnosed according to DSM‐III and the Diagnostic Interview for Borderline (DIB), and 7 healthy controls were tested with the Defense Mechanism Test (DMT), a test of subliminal perception based on psychoanalytic theory. In the test a specific stimulus is presented subliminaily in a tachistoscope and the patient's perceptual distortions are registered. Patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD) were compared with patients with other personality disorders, patients with schizophrenic disorders and healthy controls. Specific perceptual distortions were identified among patients with BPD. Some individual DMT signs correlated with some deviant behaviors as identified by the DIB. The findings supported the psychodynamic validity of the concept of borderline personality disorder. It is concluded that DMT is a promising research instrument that provides an empirical approach to crucial psychodynamic phenomena.