Lingering at the threshold. Considerations on the narcissistic structures and on the borderline condition

Indugiare sulla soglia. Considerazioni sulle strutture narcisistiche e sulla condizione borderline

S. Fasullo

Dipartimento di Biomedicina e Neuroscienze Cliniche, Università di Palermo

Summary

In this work we consider borderline condition as a specific structural organization of personality which is correlated to narcissistic defects, rather than a condition related to phenomenological aspects.

Events between the Ego and objects and the Ego and things always alternate between re-union and separation. It oscillates between the distance from the object as a “visual necessity to put into focus” (that is, as a possibility of thought, knowledge and recognition of the object that is far from the Self) and the re-union with it (or the longing for the re-union) as a possibility to realize a sense of love, to arrange and to reach individuation, and to perceive a sense of property, but also as an extreme tension to the total fusion. We may say that according to these remarks, the study of narcissistic structures is appropriate to study the borderline situation and what is described as borderline. That is, a sort of fixed position of this system whose balance in motion permits the cohesion of fundamental elements such as love for the things, love for oneself, and the basic sense of the human being.

Borderline is the man on the border of himself and it is possible to consider the borderline condition as a spatial mistake, a pathology of distances. We propose a clinical essay in order to underline the problem of distance (a balanced distance between oneself and others is always impossible); it is a problem that assumes particular relevance in the therapeutic relationship in its transference and countertransference.

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