Pamela A. Foelsch • Susanne Schlüter-Müller
Anna E. Odom • Helen T. Arena
Andrés Borzutzky H. • Klaus Schmeck

2014

An Integrative Approach for Personality
Pathology

In 2000, Paulina Kernberg et al. proposed a model for understanding identity pathology in children and adolescents. Her emphasis was on the need to differentiate adolescents with normal identity crisis from those with identity diffusion. Identity crisis generally resolves into a normal, consolidated identity with flexible and adaptive functioning; whereas, identity diffusion is viewed as the source for subsequent personality pathology, including borderline personality disorder (BPD), leading to a broad spectrum of maladaptive and dysfunctional behaviors.