Splitting (psychology) - Borderline Personality Disorder

Borderline Personality Disorder

Splitting is a relatively common defense mechanism for people with borderline personality disorder. One of the DSM IV-TR criteria for this disorder is a description of splitting: "a pattern of unstable and intense interpersonal relationships characterized by alternating between extremes of idealization and devaluation." The borderline personality is not able to integrate the good and bad images of both self and others, so that people who suffer from borderline personality disorder have a bad representation which dominates the good representation. This makes them experience love and sexuality in perverse and violent qualities which they cannot integrate with the tender, intimate side of relationships.