psychology borderline jung

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Borderline Personality Disorder According to Jungian Psychology

by Gerald Schueler, Ph.D. 1997

A Jungian Model of the Psyche.

A model of the psyche based on Jung (1990) is shown in the figure below. This model is a dynamic one. Thecentral archetypal Self is at the center of the psyche. The Self looks outwardly at the conscious ego, which

interacts with the physical world through the filter of the persona. It looks inwardly at the archetypes of the

collective unconscious through the shadow and through the filter of the anima or animus. The shadow is the

complement of the persona.

In this model, psychic energy flows between all components of the psyche. Jung (1973) called this energy

libido. Normally the libido is tuned to specific psychic functions, however, it can be redirected or "canalized"

into other channels by the use of symbols.

"I have called a symbol that converts energy a "libido analogue." By this I mean an idea that can give

equivalent expression to the libido and canalize it into a form different from the original one." (Jung,

1973, p. 48).

Thus symbols can help us to become conscious of the unconscious, and to be aware of the various

unconscious processes going on in our psyche. The model shown above is called transcendent because the

Self transcends the personal ego. According to Jung's individuation process, normal growth is for the ego to

develop and mature during the first half of life. During this time, the ego individualizes itself from theunconscious Self. The goal of the psyche during the first half of life is to develop a strong ego-personality.

During the second half of life, the ego assimilates the Self, by becoming consciously aware of it (Edinger,

1974). If done properly, this assimilation process, called individuation, gives meaning to the ego as well as a

sense of fulfillment.

Jung's Archetypes of the Collective Unconscious.

Jung (1978) taught that the human mind or psyche is complex and is composed of parts, much like the

physical body. He coined the word "complexes" for various unconscious parts of the psyche. Complexes are

the focal and nodal points of psychic life (Jacobi, 1973). He also divided the unconscious into two distinctregions, the personal and the collective: Whereas the personal unconscious consists for the most part of

complexes, the content of the collective unconscious is made up essentially ofarchetypes (Jung, 1990, p.

42).


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Behind the personal unconscious lies the collective unconscious which contain the archetypes. The archetypes

represent the structure of a "psychic world" whose reality is seen through its effects on the conscious mind

(Jacobi, 1973).

The structure of the psyche is similar to that of the physical body. According to Jung (1990), the archetype is

"a psychic organ present in all of us" (p. 160). Archetypes are structures, not images. They allow for the

periodic creation and dissolution of images.

When we find ourselves in a grave psychic situation, archetypal dreams will often come to us that will suggest

possibilities of progress that would not otherwise have occurred to us (Jacobi, 1973). Activation of an

archetype usually is accompanied by an alteration of the conscious situation, a new form of compensation,

which in turn, leads to a new distribution of psychic energy and a corresponding reordering of the psychic

situation (Jacobi, 1973).

Jung (1976) says, "The archetypes are the numinous, structural elements of the psyche and possess a certain

autonomy and specific energy which enables them to attract, out of the conscious mind, those contents which

are best suited to themselves." (p. 232). Symbols, not words, are the language or expression or form used by

the archetypes to communicate.

The Shadow.

Adjacent to the ego on the inward side, is the archetype called the shadow. Jung (1978) taught that the

shadow is the most accessible of all of the archetypes.

The shadow is a moral problem that challenges the whole ego-personality, for no one can become conscious

of the shadow without considerable moral effort. To become conscious of it involves recognizing the dark

aspects of the personality as present and real. (p. 8)

The persona is that part of ourselves that we like , and with which we want to be identified. The ego is that

part of ourselves that we are fully aware of. The shadow is that part of ourselves that we do not want and are

not aware of. It contains all of our repressed fears, ungodly characteristics, and our forgotten actions. It

contains those parts of ourselves that we fail to acknowledge and often project onto others. The contents of

the shadow are charged with emotion and thus can affect the ego. "By "shadow" I mean the inferior

personality, the lowest levels of which are indistinguishable from the instinctuality of an animal" (Jung, 1978,

pp. 233-234).

The healthy psyche is able to balance the ego and persona with the shadow, much like the body can maintain

an balance temperature and acid-alkaline ratio.

The more refined our conscious personality, the more shadow we have built up on the other side. This is

one of Jung's greatest insights: that the ego and the shadow come from the same source and exactly

balance each other. (Johnson, 1991, p. 17)

Jung's individuation process, a maturing of the psyche during the second half of life, involves deliberately

becoming aware of the shadow and assimilating its contents.

The Borderline Personality.

When the libido is concentrated on or around the ego, a narcissistic self-absorption occurs. When the libido is

concentrated on worldly or external objects the ego is drawn into involvement with those objects. However,

when the libido is withdrawn from the world and from the ego, and is concentrated in the deep unconscious


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parts of the psyche, it exerts an attraction upon the ego which pulls it into these darker realms. Introverted

psychic energy, or indrawn libido, saps the ego's strength and draws its attention onto the shadow. When the

ego becomes aware of this inner attraction, it becomes "a borderline self that is affected by an invisible power

and afflicted with a sinking sense of doom" (Washburn, 1994, p. 206). The healthy ego can remain separated

from the shadow and its contents through repression. The borderline has no safety zone, and constantly feels

threatened by the dark forces lurking in the shadow. It feels as if it is slowly being pulled to its doom, certain

annihilation, because the boundary between consciousness and all of the repressed contents of the shadow is

not functioning properly. The borderline has "not developed a coherent self that can stand unsupported"(Nelson, 1994, p. 384). The borderline suffers from Adler (1985) calls annihilation anxiety. The borderline

ego feels itself on the border with the shadow, on the edge of a great abyss from which there is no escape.

The borderline ego's annihilation anxiety is an anxiety of total self-dissolution. It is the primal fear of

becoming psychotic, of ceasing altogether to exist as a singular subject of awareness. (Washburn, 1994,

pp. 208-209)

The constant fear of inner engulfment and annihilation make normal relationships impossible. The borderline

first sees another person as being all good, or even a savior as they seek to save themselves through the other

person. When their unrealistic demands are unmet, the borderline feels betrayed and the other person

becomes all bad. They cannot see other people as mixtures of good and bad because this would dash their

hope for a savior (Washburn, 1994).

Peters (1996) views the borderline personality as a rite of passage. He argues that many behaviors that we in

the West consider pathological, are understood as necessary transitional crises in other cultures. The

borderline ego, for example, is caused from "a lack of meaningful sacred myths to guide the formation of

identity" (p. 211). Our myths and rituals are models that cultures use to describe reality as well as models for

acceptable and non-acceptable behaviors. But we in the West have lost such models, and as a result, a small

but increasing percentage of our population suffers in confusion. A number of typical BPD characteristicssuch as fasting, altered states of consciousness, body mutilation, and the use of psychoactive drugs are typical

found in rites of passage. Furthermore, BPD behaviors such as body fragmentation, dismemberment, and

mutilation also occur in transitional crisis experiences which are considered normal developmental stages in

other cultures, such as in shamanic rites of passage. Altered states of consciousness that result from loss of

boundaries, typical of the BPD, are seen as pathological in traditional psychiatry but are typical of the

transitional stages found in tribal rites of passage. He concludes that the borderline syndrome, "like other

chronic psychiatric disorders, is less prevalent in cultural contexts with meaningful rites of passage" (p. 212).

References

Adler, G. (1985).Borderline psychopathology and its treatment. New York: Jason Aronson.

Jacobi, J. (1973). The psychology of C. G. Jung: An introduction with illustrations. New Haven: Yale

University Press. First published in 1942.

Johnson, R. A. (1991). Owning your own shadow: Understanding the dark side of the psyche. United

Kingdom: HarperCollins.

Jung, C. G. (1973). On the nature of the psyche. Hull, R. F. C. (Trans.). Bollingen Series XX. The

Collected Works of C.G. Jung,8. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. First published in 1960.

Jung, C. G. (1978). Aion: Researches into the phenomenology of the self. Hull, R. F. C. (Trans.).

Bollingen Series XX. The Collected Works of C. G. Jung,9, II. Princeton, NJ: Princeton


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University Press. First published in 1959.

Jung, C.G. (1990). The archetypes of the collective unconscious. Hull, R. F. C. (Trans.). Bollingen Series

XX. The Collected Works of C.G. Jung,9 (1). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. First published in

1959.

Nelson, J. E. (1994). Healing the spirit: Integrating spirit into our understanding of the mentally ill. Albany:

State University of New York Press.

Peters, L. G. (1996). The contribution of anthropology to transpersonal psychiatry. In Scottin, B. W.,

Chinen, A. B., & Battista, J. R. (Eds.). (1996). Textbook of transpersonal psychiatry and

psychology, New York: BasicBooks.

Washburn, M. (1994). Transpersonal psychology in psychoanalytic perspective. Albany: State University of

New York Press.

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