What Are the Social/Family Causes of Borderline Personality Disorder as Described by Linehan?
The type of early family environment that is seen to contribute to Borderline Personality Disorder is called, “the invalidating environment.” An invalidating environment is described by the following examples: • If a child reports that he is hungry he is told that he is not hungry, he just ate. i.e. his inner experience is invalidated. • When a child expresses upset, the family does not pay attention, or tells him he’s making a big deal about it. • The child’s beliefs, thoughts and preferences and ideas are not sought or taken seriously. • The child’s emotions are not considered to be important communications and are not responded to or do not result in the child’s needs getting met. • The child is blamed for her painful experiences and such experiences are trivialized. • The child is discriminated against based on arbitrary characteristics such as gender. • Punishment is used to control behavior, from criticism up to physical and sexual abuse. A history of sexual abuse is seen in appr
