Beta Fulltext view is in preview — article structure may vary. Browse all articles
Contents
Psychology & Psychological Research International Journal Research Article 5 min read

Title: The Covert Borderline

Vaknin S*
* Corresponding author
ISSN: 2576-0319  10.23880/pprij-16000400  Received: February 27, 2024  Published: March 19, 2024
 — views
 31 references
PDF
Keywords
Personality Disorders Covert Borderline
Abstract

I propose a new clinical entity, a hybrid between narcissistic and borderline personality disorders. It is not the comorbidity which it quite common in clinical settings. It is a personality disorder that seamlessly integrates features of both NPD and BPD.

Introduction

Covert Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD)

The shy or quiet borderline internalizes her struggles rather than externalize them. She becomes the exclusive target of her own turmoil. She “acts in”.

Self-Concept 1. identity diffusion;

2. false self grandiosity; 2. inferiority;

3. preoccupation with fantasies of outstanding love; undue sense of uniqueness; feelings of entitlement; alloplastic defenses;

4. internal locus of control; seeming self- sufficiency; 4. external locus of control;

Both the classic and covert borderline (many of the latter are men) act out. Here is a table which compares the clinical features of these two subtypes. It is based on the schematic present by Arnold M. Cooper and S. Akhtar in 1989 for classic vs. cover narcissist.

Covert/Antisocial Borderline Classic/Dysregulated Borderline

3. morose self-doubts and ego-dystony or ego discrepancy (“wrongness”), autoplastic defenses;

5. marked propensity toward feeling ashamed, guilty, or to blame;

6. fragility, vulnerability;

7. relentless search for safety and completion;

8. marked sensitivity to criticism and realistic setbacks;

9. mood lability;

10. emotional dysregulation and rationalization or reactance and defiance, contumaciounsess;

12. low boredom threshold and tolerance;

14. externalizing-internalizing;

15. No suicidal ideation, aggression other- directed;

16. No self-mutilation, hypochondriasis, addictive behaviors;

17. dissociative self-states, mainly: selective attention, confabulation, repression or denial, primary psychopathic protector

9. mood lability;

10. emotional dysregulation and numbing and dysempathy;

11. alexithymia;

12. low frustration threshold and tolerance;

13. depression and anxiety;

14. internalizing-externalizing;

15. suicidal tendencies;

16. self-harm and substance abuse or self-trashing (like egregious promiscuity)

17. dissociative self-states, mainly: realization, depersonalization, or amnesia

1. paranoid ideation; 1. inability to genuinely depend on others and trust them, hypervigilance;

2. numerous but shallow relationships;

2. instant or fake intimacy (sometimes in casual sex)

3. abandonment anxiety (impostor syndrome);

intense need for love from others, people pleasing; 4. engulfment anxiety and fear of intimacy;

lack of real empathy in primary psychopathic phase; 5. rejection sensitivity;

valuing of children over spouse in family life; 6. effortful control;

Interpersonal Relationships

9. passive-aggressive, sullen, surly, self- denying, behaviors; cunning and premeditated malevolence;

10. intermittent reinforcement;

11. scorn for others, often masked by pseudohumility;

7. inability to genuinely participate in group activities; 7. chronic envy of others talents, possessions, and capacity for deep object relations;

8. lack of regard for generational boundaries;

9. disregard for others’ time, limitations, obligations, and resources (unreasonably demanding);

10. unpredictable,

11. explosive behavior;

12, 17. histrionic attention seeking; 12. impulsivity;

13. recklessness aimed at hurting or affecting others; 13. recklessness;

14. sadistic-punitive or goal-oriented triangulation;

15, 16. object inconstancy: idealize-devalue- discard-revert or replace

14. interpersonal triangulation;

people pleasing;

15. approach-avoidance repetition compulsion and preemptive abandonment;

16. object inconstancy;

17. drama queens

1. nagging aimlessness;

2. Socially charming, charismatic; 2. social anxiety;

3. consistent hard work done mainly to seek admiration (pseudo- sublimation); 3. shallow vocational commitment;

4. intense ambition;

Social Adaptation

5. often successful;

7. preoccupation with appearances

2. inordinate ethnic and moral relativism;

Ethics, Standards, and Ideals

4. dilettante-like attitude;

5. multiple but superficial interests;

6. chronic boredom;

7. aesthetic taste often ill-informed and imitative

1. idiosyncratically and unevenly moral, caricatured modesty, activism and apparent enthusiasm for sociopolitical affairs; 1. readiness to shift values to gain favor;

3. pretended contempt for money in real life, feigned spirituality and “guru” status; 2. pathological lying;

4. irreverence toward authority

3. materialistic lifestyle;

4.delinquent tendencies;

1.marital instability; 1. inability to remain in love;

Love and Sexuality

2. cold and greedy seductiveness; 2. impaired capacity for viewing the romantic partner as a separate individual with his or her own interests, rights, and values;

3. inability to genuinely comprehend the incest taboo;

3. extramarital affairs and promiscuity; 4. occasional sexual perversions

4. uninhibited sexual life

1. dichotomous thinking; 1. dichotomous thinking;

2. splitting; 2. splitting;

3.  catastrophizing;

4. impressively knowledgeable; 4. knowledge often limited to trivia (headline intelligence);

5. egocentric perception of reality;

Cognitive Style

6. fondness for shortcuts to acquisition of knowledge

7. decisive and opinionated;

8. love of language, often strikingly articulate;

References

  1. Stormberg D, Roningstam E, Gunderson J, Tohen M (1998) Pathological Narcissism in Bipolar Disorder Patients. Journal of Personality Disorders 12: 179-185.
  2. Roningstam E (1996) Pathological Narcissism and Narcissistic Personality Disorder in Axis I Disorders. Harvard Review of Psychiatry 3(6): 326-340.
  3. Alford, Fred C (1988) Narcissism: Socrates, the Frankfurt School and Psychoanalytic Theory - New Haven and London, Yale University Press.
  4. Fairbairn WRD (1954) An Object Relations Theory of the Personality.
  5. Freud S (1905) Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality. Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud 7: 1-124.
  6. Freud S (1905) On Narcissism. 14: 73-107.
  7. Golomb E (1995) Trapped in the Mirror: Adult Children of Narcissists in Their Struggle for Self - Quill.
  8. Greenberg JR, Mitchell SA (1983) Object Relations in Psychoanalytic Theory.
  9. Grunberger B (1979) Narcissism: Psychoanalytic Essays. International Universities Press, New york, USA.
  10. Guntrip H (1961) Personality Structure and Human Interaction. International Universities Press, New york, USA.
  11. Horowitz MJ (1975) Sliding Meanings: A defense against
  12. forgetful of details, especially names;
  13. impaired in the capacity for learning new skills;
  14. tendency to change meanings of reality when facing a threat to self-esteem;
  15. language and speaking used for regulating self- esteem threat in narcissistic personalities. International Journal of Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy 4: 167-180.
  16. Jacobson E (1964) The Self and the Object World. International Universities Press, New York, USA.
  17. Kernberg O (1975) Borderline Conditions and Pathological Narcissism. New York, Jason Aronson, USA.
  18. Trust MK (1964) The Writings of Melanie Klein. In: Kyrle RM (Ed.), New York, Free Press, USA 4: 75.
  19. Kohut H (1971) The Analysis of the Self - New York, International Universities Press.
  20. Lasch C (1979) The Culture of Narcissism. Warner Books, New York, USA.
  21. Alexander L (1997) Narcissism: Denial of the True Self - Touchstone Books.
  22. Millon T, Davis RD (1995) Disorders of Personality: DSM IV and Beyond. In: 2nd (Edn.), John Wiley and Sons.
  23. Millon T (2000) Personality Disorders in Modern Life. New York: John Wiley and Sons 188(8): 558.
  24. Ronningstam E (1998) Disorders of Narcissism: Diagnostic. Clinical, and Empirical Implications. American Psychiatric Press.
  25. Ronningstam E (1996) Pathological Narcissism and Narcissistic Personality Disorder in Axis I Disorders. Harvard Review of Psychiatry 3(6): 326-340.
  26. Rothstein A (1984) The Narcissistic Pursuit of Reflection .International Universities Press.
  27. Lester S (1974) Narcissistic Personality Disorders A Clinical Discussion. Journal of Am Psychoanalytic Association 22(2): 292-306.
  28. Daniel S (1985) The Interpersonal World of the Infant. A View from Psychoanalysis and Developmental Psychology.
  29. David S, Roningstam E, Gunderson J, Tohen M (1988) Pathological Narcissism in Bipolar Disorder Patients. Journal of Personality Disorders 12(2): 179-185.
  30. Vaknin S (2015) Malignant Self Love – Narcissism Revisited, 10th revised impression – Skopje and Prague. Narcissus Publications.
  31. Zweig P (1968) The Heresy of Self-Love: A Study of Subversive Individualism.
More from this journal

Cite this article

BibTeX
APA
RIS
@article{vaknin2024,
  title   = {Title: The Covert Borderline},
  author  = {Vaknin S},
  journal = {Psychology & Psychological Research International Journal},
  year    = {2024},
  volume  = {9},
  number  = {1},
  doi     = {10.23880/pprij-16000400}
}
Vaknin S (2024). Title: The Covert Borderline. Psychology & Psychological Research International Journal, 9(1). https://doi.org/10.23880/pprij-16000400
TY  - JOUR
TI  - Title: The Covert Borderline
AU  - Vaknin S
JO  - Psychology & Psychological Research International Journal
PY  - 2024
VL  - 9
IS  - 1
DO  - 10.23880/pprij-16000400
ER  -