Assessment and Treatment of Identity Pathology During Adolescence

Personality disorders can be seen as patterns of maladaptive personality traits that have their onset during childhood or adolescence and that have an impact on the individual throughout the life span. Identity disturbance is seen as the central construct for detecting severe personality pathology—and, most notably, borderline personality disorder—in adults and adolescents. Therefore, in the revision of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition, the construct of “identity” has been integrated as a core diagnostic criterion for personality disorders.

One of the most central tasks of normal adolescent development is the consolidation of identity. Crises in the development of identity usually resolve into a normal and consolidated identity with flexible and adaptive functioning. By contrast, identity diffusion is viewed as a lack of integration of the concept of the self and significant others; it is also seen as the basis for subsequent personality pathology, including that of borderline personality disorder, which leads to a broad spectrum of maladaptive and dysfunctional behaviors.

To measure identity pathology and its improvement with treatment, we developed a self-report questionnaire entitled Assessment of Identity Development in Adolescence to establish a reliable, valid, and time-efficient inventory to represent a dimensional concept of healthy and impaired personality development. The reliability of this self-report questionnaire is excellent, and the total score differentiated significantly between controls and patients with personality disorders. Adolescent Identity Treatment is a treatment model that focuses on identity pathology as the core characteristic of personality disorders. This model integrates specific techniques for the treatment of adolescent personality pathology on the background of object-relation theories and modified elements of Transference-Focused Psychotherapy. Moreover, psychoeducation, behavior-oriented home plans, and family work support the therapeutic process of the adolescent.