<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>The aim of this work is to contribute to the ecological and phenomenological understanding of people with borderline personality disorder by analyzing the relation to the “limit situations”, a concept that was formulated one century ago by Karl Jaspers. This study makes it possible to go beyond the nosographic debate in which the pathological entity is often confined, by defining it as a disorder “situated” between neurosis and psychosis. The five limit-situations (which have been described by Gabriel Marcel in his introduction to Jaspers’ proposals) – namely, (1) historical situation, (2) love conflict, (3) suffering, (4) guilt, (5) and death – turn out to be crucial situations in which the limit-existence manifests itself in a specific way. In particular, we observe that the peculiarities of the experience characterizing the borderline individual’s limit situations rely on a temporality grounded on instantaneity and immediacy, and imply a specific relationship to others. Finally, the limit state seems to call into question this primordial tendency by suggesting that every man is bound to be part of time, to love, to feel guilty, to suffer and to flee this suffering, to die and to organize his life by considering such a condition of finitude.</p></abstract>

The aim of this work is to contribute to the ecological and phenomenological understanding of people with borderline personality disorder by analyzing the relation to the “limit situations”, a concept that was formulated one century ago by Karl Jaspers. This study makes it possible to go beyond the nosographic debate in which the pathological entity is often confined, by defining it as a disorder “situated” between neurosis and psychosis. The five limit-situations (which have been described by Gabriel Marcel in his introduction to Jaspers’ proposals) – namely, (1) historical situation, (2) love conflict, (3) suffering, (4) guilt, (5) and death – turn out to be crucial situations in which the limit-existence manifests itself in a specific way. In particular, we observe that the peculiarities of the experience characterizing the borderline individual’s limit situations rely on a temporality grounded on instantaneity and immediacy, and imply a specific relationship to others. Finally, the limit state seems to call into question this primordial tendency by suggesting that every man is bound to be part of time, to love, to feel guilty, to suffer and to flee this suffering, to die and to organize his life by considering such a condition of finitude.

Borderline Personality Disorder and the ‘Limit-Situations’: An Ecological and Phenomenological Contribution

Phainomenon

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

The aim of this work is to contribute to the ecological and phenomenological understanding of people with borderline personality disorder by analyzing the...

Borderline Personality Disorder and the ‘Limit-Situations’: An Ecological and Phenomenological Contribution

Publié en ligne: 14 oct. 2021

Pages: 159 - 183

Reçu: 10 sept. 2018

Accepté: 18 déc. 2018

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/phainomenon-2018-0014

Mots clés
Borderline personality disorder, limit situation, phenomenological psychopathology, time

© 2018 Jérôme Englebert, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Borderline Personality Disorder and the ‘Limit-Situations’: An Ecological and Phenomenological Contribution

Publié en ligne: 14 oct. 2021

Pages: 159 - 183

Reçu: 10 sept. 2018

Accepté: 18 déc. 2018

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/phainomenon-2018-0014

Mots clésBorderline personality disorder, limit situation, phenomenological psychopathology, time

© 2018 Jérôme Englebert, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Mots clés
Borderline personality disorder, limit situation, phenomenological psychopathology, time