Abstract

Anne was sexually and physically abused as a child and adolescent. Since an adolescent, she has had episodes of engaging in self-injurious behavior, where she repetitively cuts her arms with a knife or scissors, sometimes so seriously that she has had to go to the emergency room. She is relatively high functioning as an individual, where her academic cleverness has enabled her to study for a philosophy degree at a top university. Owing to her history of deliberate self-injury, psychiatrists have diagnosed her with borderline personality disorder. In moments of anger and emotional upset, like when her psychiatrist has seemed cold toward her or her session has stopped early, she reverts to cutting her arms.Borderline...