Borderline Personality Disorder Summary

Shelley Saunders, a 26-year-old Caucasian woman, was admitted to the hospital after slashing her wrists and overdosing on heroin. Although an attractive, brilliant, and successful businesswoman, she has never been able to achieve any meaningful relationships. Most recently, Ms. Saunders met a man named Derek at a bar and had sex with him that night. When next morning approached, she told Derek that she was in love with him. Ms. Saunders would call Derek several times throughout the day, often telling him that she wanted to see him, that he was special, and that she could not imagine life without him. This type of clingy behavior eventually became too much for Derek, so he tried to end it with her. However, Ms. Saunders repeatedly harassed Derek by stalking him, calling him, showing up at his job, and leaving threatening notes, all in attempts to get him back. Yet, when her efforts were futile she decided to go to the extreme. One night, she called Derek to him that if she could not have him then …show more content…
The authors of the article, Borderline Personality Disorder: Disorder or Trauma, a Review of the Empirical Literature explored the question of whether borderline personality disorder is a disorder arising out of experiences of childhood trauma. They found that although relationships between specific trauma types and outcomes in adulthood are inconsistent, overall associations between childhood trauma and the development of borderline personality disorder are strong and consistently identified (MacIntosh, Godbout, & Dubash, 2015). Therefore, the fact that Ms. Saunders was sexually abused as a child could be a factor as to why she displays symptoms of borderline personality