Diagnosis of Borderlines: A Discussion*

In a discussion of two reviews of the literature on borderline conditions by Liebowitz (1979) and Rieder (1979), the author briefly describes his own research on clinical aspects of the borderline syndrome. Each of the investigators involved in the study of borderline conditions seems to have his own theoretical position and diagnostic evaluation procedures. There seems to be a consensus, however, that the syndrome represents a basic developmental defect with relatively "stable instability" within four subcategories.