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Case Study

From the “Imperfect Illness” to the Possibility of Developing Good Internal Objects

Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy of Patients With Borderline Personality Disorder With Follow-Up by the Rorschach

Published Online:January 04, 2017https://doi.org/10.1027/1192-5604/a000081

Abstract

Abstract. This paper is about a psychoanalytic psychotherapy follow-up by the Rorschach Comprehensive System of Doralice, a 30-year-old, unemployed, single woman, with diagnosis of Major Depressive Disorder, recurrent, severe, with psychotic features (Axis-I); and Borderline Personality Disorder (Axis-II) in DSM IV. The Rorschach Comprehensive System was administered upon admission and also in five annual follow-ups. In this paper, the authors show the characteristics and the development of the dual therapeutic attachment that will be illustrated by the responses to the Rorschach cards II, III and VII, focusing mainly on the MOA scale on the four assessments. The authors will discuss the development of good internal objects over the years during the psychotherapeutic process with a turning point in the third year of treatment that is manifested in the Rorschach. The State of São Paulo Research Foundation, FAPESP, sponsored this study.

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