Chapter 1. Literature Review: Borderline Personality Disorder in university students
1.1 Chapter Overview The literature review first presents the evolution of Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) over the past 60 years, highlighting the shift from psychodynamic perspectives to that of biological and environmental determinates. Diagnostic classification of BPD is then examined, and subsequently discussed in terms of sectors of psychopathology that serve to demarcate the disorder. Next, dominant contemporary aetiologies of BPD are discussed, leading to an examination of comorbidities and the prevalence of BPD across populations. The focus of the review shifts to an examination of BPD in university students, commencing with treatments that are both efficacious and suited for delivery in a university context. Then, management of BPD related behaviours on campus are discussed in terms of the role of university staff in providing assistance to students with BPD. The chapter concludes with a summation of considerations in assisting university students with severe symptoms of BPD while on campus.
1.2 Borderline Personality Disorder 1.2.1 The development of the Borderline construct Reliable and valid differentiation of the borderline construct has proved elusive. The phenomena was initially reported in psychodynamic literature in the 1930’s, however was not distinguished as a syndrome until 1953 (Knight, 1953). Indeed, the use of the term ‘borderline’ arguably represents a misnomer due to its association with early difficulty in characterising an indistinct set of symptoms (Zhong& Leung, 2007). Observations of the era indicate patients displayed both classic symptoms of neurosis and concurrent indicators of psychosis, in the absence of polarization toward either (Knight, 1953). Subsequently, the presentation was regarded to represent a diagnostic mid-point or