title: Malevolent object representations in borderline personality disorder and major depression.
abstract: To study malevolent representations, earliest memories were reliably coded on scales of affect tone. Ss were diagnosed with borderline personality disorder: 31 without and 30 with concurrent major depression. Nonborderline comparison subjects had either major depressive disorder (n = 26) or no psychiatric diagnosis (n = 30). Borderline subjects were discriminated from comparison subjects by their more malevolent representations; they more frequently produced memories involving deliberate injury; and they portrayed potential helpers as less helpful. Results suggest the diagnostic significance of malevolent representations, which need to be explained by any theory of borderline personality disorder.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan.
authors.forename: J T
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Nigg
authors.forename: N E
authors.initials: NE
authors.lastname: Lohr
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Western
authors.forename: L J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Gold
authors.forename: K R
authors.initials: KR
authors.lastname: Silk
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect; D001883:Borderline Personality Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology*; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009769:Object Attachment; D010552:Personality Assessment; D011386:Projective Techniques