Title from PDF of title page (University of Missouri--Columbia, viewed on Feb. 18, 2010). The entire thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file; a non-technical public abstract appears in the public.pdf file. Dr. Stanislav Kolenikov, Thesis Supervisor Includes bibliographical references.

This report tracks the process of researching, developing, casting, directing and editing BORDERLINE, an hour-long documentary film. The film was produced as my graduate thesis film in the department of Radio-Television-Film at the University of Texas at Austin in partial fulfillment of a Masters of Fine Arts in Film Production. The film aims to get inside the psyche of Regina V, a woman living with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). The appeal of filming someone with this diagnosis was due to a common experience of those who diagnostically qualify: extreme emotional pain. Hence, in order to unravel the riddle of Borderline, one must understand the architecture of suffering, suffering as process, as action, an action I wanted to capture and detail. 80% of this population attempt suicide, 10% succeed. Approximately 2% of the US population meet criteria for BPD, and few practitioners have the skill or desire to treat it. As if mental “illness” were not already stigmatized, this diagnosis carries the most stigma within the mental health profession, many practitioners speaking in derogatory ways about those who diagnostically qualify. In essence, the hands that should feed and help those so afflicted are the very hands that shoo them away. Because Borderline is a diagnosis that points directly to an individual’s attachment issues and interpersonal dysregulation, I anticipated interpersonal challenges would emerge between me and the film’s main subject, Regina. I hoped that the complex dynamics within our relationship, if properly maneuvered, would translate to affects Regina expressed on camera and that these quick shifting affects would generate an experience for the audience that might jar their emotional space, offer a small taste of how Regina lives daily, an increased understanding of what generates emotional pain, and maybe inspire a shard of empathy, if not curiosity, for people who behave badly. If nothing else, film offers the opportunity to change a person’s feelings, on a minute-by-minute, scene-by-scene, shot-by-shot, blink-by-blink basis, such that we become hyper conscious of the blow-by blow emotional shifts that life events generate. With this film, I hope to take people on an emotional trip. / text

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Bakgrund: Personer med Borderline Personlighetsstörning (BPS) ses ofta inom sjukvården och är starkt förknippade med hög dödlighet. Återkommande egenskaper i denna patientgrupps liv är instabilitet, impulsivitet, en växlande självbild samt bristande relationer. Tidigare forskning visar att allmänsjuksköterskor besitter bristfälliga kunskaper om borderlinepatienter och deras upplevelser av att leva med BPS. Syfte: Studiens syfte är att belysa hur kvinnor med Borderline Personlighetsstörning (BPS) upplever sin livsvärld, för att genom livsvärlden delge allmänsjuksköterskor bättre verktyg för att möta och vårda denna patientgrupp på bästa sätt. Metod: Studien genomförs utifrån en kvalitativ ansats, med utgångspunkt från hermeneutiken. Fyra självbiografier analyseras med hjälp av Lundman och Hällgren-Graneheims (2008) kvalitativa innehållsanalys. Resultat: Upplevelsen av Borderline Personlighetsstörning beskrivs i studiens resultat genom fyra huvudkategorier: uppväxtens betydelse, behovet av relationer, ett svårthanterligt känsloliv samt synen på sig själv. Slutsatser: Ett livsvärldsperspektiv är nödvändigt att ha med sig som allmänsjuksköterska, för att förstå, vårda och möta borderlinepatienter på bästa möjliga sätt. Utifrån livsvärlden kan patientens sanna upplevelse av vad som bidrar till lidande respektive välbefinnande nås. Genom att kartlägga ett mönster av vad som bidrar till lidande respektive välbefinnande kan vårdpersonal vägleda patienterna till ett tillfrisknande samt till en mer hanterbar vardag.

Depression and borderline personality disorder (BPD) are highly comorbid and are both characteristic of affective disturbance. In this study, it is hypothesized that the disorders share a common etiological factor of emotion reactivity. In addition, an investigation of specific emotional experiences that may differentiate the two symptom clusters is undertaken. A mood induction task was used to elicit emotional reactions in a sample of 121 university students. Regression analyses were conducted to examine emotion reactivity as a common factor. Unique associations between specific emotions and features of BPD, depression, and an interaction term (BPDxDep) were investigated. It was found that all models tested were significant, with the exception of joy. Features of BPD were uniquely associated with sadness, guilt, and anger, as were depressive features. BPDxDep symptoms were negatively associated with guilt. A discussion of the findings obtained and their significance in theory and in practice is undertaken.

Depression and borderline personality disorder (BPD) are highly comorbid and are both characteristic of affective disturbance. In this study, it is hypothesized that the disorders share a common etiological factor of emotion reactivity. In addition, an investigation of specific emotional experiences that may differentiate the two symptom clusters is undertaken. A mood induction task was used to elicit emotional reactions in a sample of 121 university students. Regression analyses were conducted to examine emotion reactivity as a common factor. Unique associations between specific emotions and features of BPD, depression, and an interaction term (BPDxDep) were investigated. It was found that all models tested were significant, with the exception of joy. Features of BPD were uniquely associated with sadness, guilt, and anger, as were depressive features. BPDxDep symptoms were negatively associated with guilt. A discussion of the findings obtained and their significance in theory and in practice is undertaken.

Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is among the most troubling Personality Disorders. Individuals with the disorder have exaggerated fears of abandonment, distorted self-identity and problems in interpersonal relationships, and are prone to self-abuse, suicide ideation and attempts, rage and aggression. Furthermore, these individuals have an exceptional aversion to admitting that these problematic behaviours are symptomatic of an underlying disorder, and therefore in accepting responsibility for their behaviour. Using a Spinozist approach, I analyze that we the public share in the responsibility for having a population with BPD. Under the guidance of Hasana Sharp’s Politics of Renaturalization, I argue that the individual with BPD resists accepting responsibility because she is not completely to blame. Spinoza’s radically relational ontology shows that no individual can act without affecting and having been affected by the myriad of other beings, especially other humans. We the public share in the blame for having a population with BPD, and I argue that admitting so will help the individuals with BPD gain self-knowledge and accept their respective share of the responsibility for these problematic behaviours. This will serve the best interests of the public by affording more credence and adding new voices from these personalities in collective conversation

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Alliant International University, San Francisco Bay, 2006. / Adviser: Rebecca Turner. Includes bibliographical references.

Proefschrift Universiteit van Amsterdam. / Met lit. opg. - Met samenvatting in het Nederlands.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Murdoch University, 2005. / Thesis submitted to the Division of Health Sciences. Bibliography: leaves 491-548.