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Biomedical subjects

P Ludolph

Publications and source records attributed to P Ludolph.

7 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1994

Maternal empathy, family chaos, and the etiology of borderline personality disorder.

Psychoanalytic writers have traced the etiology of borderline personality disorder (BPD) to be a preoedipal disturbance in the mother-child relationship. Despite the prevalence of theories focusing on the role of mothering in the development of BPD, few empirical studies have tested the hypothesis that borderlines were the recipients of unempathic mothering. The current preliminary study compared 13 mothers of borderline adolescents with 13 mothers of normal adolescents. This study found that mothers of borderlines tended to conceive of their children egocentrically, as need-gratifying objects, rather than as individuals with distinct and evolving personalities. This study also found that the mothers of borderlines reported raising their daughters in extremely chaotic families struggling to cope with multiple hardships, including divorce and financial worries. The stressful environmental circumstances reported by the mothers likely affected the borderline daughters directly as well as the mothers' ability to parent effectively and empathically. The results of this study suggest that, as predicted by psychoanalytic theory, a problematic mother-child relationship may play a significant role in the genesis of borderline pathology; however, the life circumstances that contextualize the mother-child relationship also need to be considered when accounting for the etiology of BPD.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1993

The quality of depression in adolescents with borderline personality disorder.

OBJECTIVE: The quality of depression in borderline adolescent girls was compared with the quality of depression in depressed, nonborderline girls. Psychoanalytic theories led us to expect signs of anaclitic depression in borderlines as well as a depressive sense of being "all bad." METHOD: Quality of depression was examined by means of Rorschach content analysis and the Depressive Experiences Questionnaire (DEQ). Borderline girls were expected to show greater Rorschach imagery pertaining to oral dependency and oral aggression than would depressed, nonborderline control girls. The borderline diagnosis was based on the Diagnostic Interview for Borderlines. DSM-III-R criteria were used to diagnose depression. Subjects were psychiatric inpatients, ages 14 to 18 years. RESULTS: As expected, it was found that borderline girls scored significantly higher than did controls on Rorschach scales of oral dependency; borderlines scored significantly higher on DEQ factors of dependency and self-criticism. Significant DEQ items reflected the borderlines' abandonment fears. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides empirical support for anaclitic depression in borderline adolescents, and suggests the presence of underlying fears in borderlines of being fundamentally evil or bad.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1991

Distinguishing female borderline adolescents from normal and other disturbed female adolescents.

PSYCHOANALYTIC theory would suggest that differentiating the borderline adolescent from his or her normal peers should be a difficult task. In many respects the developmental crises of adolescence dovetail with critical conflicts of Borderline Personality Disorder--e.g., identity formation and separation-individuation. Extensive semi-structured interviews (Gunderson's Diagnostic Interview for Borderlines) of normal, borderline and other disturbed adolescents provide a data base for examining the hallmarks of borderline pathology in adolescence. This paper focuses on the qualitative differences in patterns of impulsivity, affective lability, dissociative experience, and interpersonal relationships that distinguish borderline teenagers from other seriously disturbed and normal adolescents. The paper also outlines modifications in the Gunderson interview for an adolescent population.

Acting Out↗
PubMed1990

Physical and sexual abuse in adolescent girls with borderline personality disorder.

Recent investigations suggest that a history of childhood sexual abuse may be associated with borderline personality disorder. This study compares a group of female adolescents diagnosed as borderline with a control group for history of physical and sexual abuse. History of both forms of abuse, particularly sexual, distinguishes the two groups. Results point to the impact of repeated trauma on character structure, cognitive functioning, and Axis II symptomatology.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1990

Object relations in borderline adolescents.

Although pathological object relations is a core aspect of borderline psychopathology, few studies have examined borderline object relations empirically, and none has focused on borderline adolescents. The present study examined four dimensions of object relations, as measured by the Thematic Apperception Test, in a sample of adolescent borderlines, psychiatric comparison subjects, and normals. These dimensions are complexity of object representations, affect-tone of relationship paradigms, capacity for emotional investment in relationships and moral standards, and understanding of social causality. Borderlines differed significantly from both comparison groups in several distinct ways, supporting some aspects of psychoanalytic theories of borderline object relations, while challenging others. Borderline adolescents have a malevolent object world, a relative incapacity to invest in others in a non-need-gratifying way, and a tendency to attribute motivation to others in simple, illogical, and idiosyncratic ways. Their object representations, however, can be quite complex, suggesting something other than a preoedipal arrest.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1990

Developmental history and object relations in psychiatrically disturbed adolescent girls.

This study explored empirically the relationship between developmental history variables and several dimensions of object relations in a sample of 36 female adolescent inpatients. The results document the importance of preoedipal experience, the relationship with the mother, and continuity of attachments in shaping object relations. In addition, the data point to the importance of distinguishing different dimensions of object relations, such as the affective quality of the object world and the logic and accuracy of attributions, which may have different developmental correlates. The findings also suggest the impact of sexual abuse, typically a postoedipal experience, on enduring object-relational processes.

Adolescent↗