User:Sld99/Splitting (psychology)

I chose splitting because one of my best friends suffers from BPD and I feel like doing more research would help me better understand her as a person and help me be a better friend. This will also help me in my career as I help those who also suffer learn how to better cope with their own minds.

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Splitting (also called Dichotomous Thinking ), binary thinking, black-and-white thinking, all-or-nothing thinking, or thinking in extremes) is the failure in a person's thinking to bring together the dichotomy of both perceived positive and negative qualities of something into a cohesive, realistic whole. It is a common defense mechanism wherein the individual tends to think in extremes (e.g., an individual's actions and motivations are all good or all bad with no middle ground). This kind of dichotomous interpretation is contrasted by an acknowledgement of certain nuances known as "shades of gray".

Splitting was first described by Ronald Fairbairn in his formulation of object relations theory; it begins as the inability of the infant to combine the fulfilling aspects of the parents (the good object) and their unresponsive aspects (the unsatisfying object) into the same individuals, instead seeing the good and bad as separate. In psychoanalytic theory this functions as a defense mechanism.

Splitting was first described by Hyppolyte Taine who described splitting as a splitting of the ego. He described this as the existence of two thoughts, wills, distinct actions simultaneously within an individual who is aware of one mind without the awareness of the other.

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MECHANISM

The subject will perceive something that contradicts with their image of themselves or a person close to them which is often a something understood to be a slight (i.e. a partner not texting back quickly enough), a perceived attempt to isolate or abandon the m (i.e. a group of friends making plans to meet without them) , or even a feeling of unwanted attraction (i.e. finding oneself attracted to a brother in law). Psychoanalysis theories propose the idea that idealization and devaluation means there is polarization in not only an individual 's self model, but their perceived view of others.

Subjects with Borderline Personality Disorder have even been shown to interpret social acceptance as subterfuge or deception. They have also been shown to be less sensitive to verbal irony (i.e understanding the opposite meaning to the one being communicated) due to a negative bias in interpreting ambiguous information. Individuals diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder may also believe that they’ll be abandoned if they trust anyone around them.

The subject will feel challenged by this discomfort as it relates to their self perception (i.e. my partner doesn't respond to me because I'm unlovable / my friends are excluding me on purpose because they hate me / if I'm attracted to my sister's husband I must be a bad person).

The subject will form a narrative to explain and externalize the perceived discomfort, making it wholly the fault of another (i.e my partner doesn't love me because he loves someone else / the friend who made the plan is turning everyone else against me / I'm attracted to my brother in law because my brother in law is in love with me).

Proneness to rejection hypersensitivity; problems in establishing and maintaining consistent and appropriate levels of trust in interpersonal relationships; frequent misinterpretation of social signals contribute greatly to a subject with Borderline Personality Disorder's ability to find supporting "evidence" for their devaluation process (i.e my partner has a new female colleague so he must be having an affair / my friend didn't laugh at my joke so that means they secretly hate me / my brother in law sat next to me at dinner instead of my sister because he is trying to sleep with me). This can be exacerbated in times of professional or personal stress as stress-induced paranoia is a recognized diagnostic feature of Borderline Personality Disorder.

The subject individual will then devalue the person that they once idealized. (i.e. my partner is unfaithful and manipulating me / my friend is conniving and a back stabbing / my brother in law betrayed my sister).

Often then the splitting process becomes behavioural and the subject will often abruptly lash out or cut contact with the person that they devalued causing a great deal of inner group conflict and distress.

In order to prevent perceived judgement from others, the subject will often engage in a stage of justification of their actions by convincing those around them of the validity of their claims that the devalued party is entirely bad and that they are purely a victim.

Splitting can also result in dispositional and situational attributes of others actions. This means that both a liked person ' s good behavior and an unliked person ' s bad behavior are both dispositional attributes; however, a good person 's bad behavior would be situational and attributed to symptoms like stress or intoxication.

With people with Cluster-B personality disorders, this often involves the embellishment or invention of grievances that garner an emotional response from those around them that they feel matches their own distress at the situation. The more valuable the social bond they are trying to preserve or the higher their general need for social acceptance, the higher the probability that they engage in psychologically abusive behaviour. This can cause intense psychological distress in the person they are devaluing and can be met by legal challenges of abuse or slander.

MANAGEMENT

For the loved ones of those with Borderline Personality Disorder there are several seemingly contradictory factors to balance:


 * Privacy of the subject versus seeking external help.
 * Acknowledging the subjects emotions while not endorsing or encouraging their behaviour.
 * Helping the subject navigate their episode while not protecting from the consequences of their actions.

The New England Personality Disorder Association recommends always involving the wider group in the discussion of issues, not responding to or ignoring threats or accusations (even if untrue) in the moment then discussing the episode in an open and realistic manner when the subject has calmed, and never protecting the subject from social or legal consequences of their actions.

Certain difficulties arise from validating emotions and not endorsing the behaviour of splitting as the loved one of the person with Borderlike Personality Disorder risks becoming both complicit in problematic behaviours and reinforcing them.

Examples provided by Gundarson and Berkowitz are:


 * If the subject were to steal from someone they believe owes them money, it is not appropriate to shield them from prosecution.
 * If a subject threatens suicide, it is not appropriate to involve authorities or family members in order to not embarrass the subject.
 * If the subject attacks another inappropriately (either physically or verbally), it is not appropriate to condone this behaviour in order to avoid conflict.

Although Borderline Personality Disorder was thought to be untreatable in the past, many new forms of therapy have been studied, practiced, and have been shown to help in the management and treatment of this disorder.

Dialectal Behavioral Therapy is the most known treatment for those with BPD who did not strive in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. This type of therapy proposes that those with BPD can more effectively manage their interactions with others by acquiring skills that better help them deal with stress, regulate emotions, and have quality relationships. This therapy includes one weekly hour of individual therapy, a two hour group training session, communication outside of sessions, and a consultation team created for the therapist.

Mentalization- Based Treatment is a therapy that proposes that symptoms in individuals with BPD form when the patient stops mentalizing, meaning they stop rationally thinking about the emotions in their own minds and others minds. This leads individuals to disconnect from reality and operate from the certainty they feel about other ' s motives. MBT strengthens an individual 's capability to operate under attachment stress. Therapists encourage patients to dig into their emotional and unrealistic thoughts and actions in a more grounded and open mindset and thought process. MBT encourages individuals to think in a hyperactive state of mind within themselves instead of the internalized insights that they create of the world. This therapy includes 50 weekly minutes of individual therapy, 75 minutes of in group therapy, and a team meeting reflecting over how team members are doing with their mentalization.

Relationships

Splitting creates instability in relationships because one person can be viewed as either personified virtue or personified vice at different times, depending on whether they gratify the subject's needs or frustrate them. This, along with similar oscillations in the experience and appraisal of the self, leads to chaotic and unstable relationship patterns, identity diffusion, and mood swings. The therapeutic process can be greatly impeded by these oscillations because the therapist too can come to be seen as all good or all bad. To attempt to overcome the negative effects on treatment outcomes, constant interpretations by the therapist are needed.

Splitting contributes to unstable relationships and intense emotional experiences. Splitting is common during adolescence, but is regarded as transient. Splitting has been noted especially with persons diagnosed with borderline personality disorder. Treatment strategies have been developed for individuals and groups based on dialectical behavior therapy, and for couples. There are also self-help books on related topics such as mindfulness and emotional regulation that claim to be helpful for individuals who struggle with the consequences of splitting. The fear of incurring the social consequences of splitting has been theorised to lead people with Borderline Personality Disorder to avoid social or romantic relationships with those they perceive to be critical and/or prone to assertive or aggressive behaviour and conversely seek out individuals they perceive to be passive.

Many in relationships with individuals who struggle with splitting have stated that they feel as though they “tip-toe” through their relationship because there is a constant sense of duty and worrying that their partner will split and begin to see them as the bad guy. Individuals have expressed the need to consistently validate and make sure their partner is understood due to their struggles with interpersonal identity and lack of self-worth. Hypersensitivity is one feature of BPD that caused individuals to both idolize and devalue the people they surround themselves with due to their fear of rejection. This is also expressed by an individuals need for intimacy followed by a fear of rejection and interpersonal aggression. Interpersonal rejection is a split response to the feeling of rejection that an individual may feel which can result in problems within friendships and relationships because of a disruption in an individuals interpersonal functioning.

Bipolar Personality Disorder

Splitting is a relatively common defense mechanism for people with borderline personality disorder. One of the DSM IV-TR criteria for this disorder is a description of splitting: "a pattern of unstable and intense interpersonal relationships characterized by alternating between extremes of idealization and devaluation". In psychoanalytic theory, people with borderline personality disorder are not able to integrate the good and bad images of both self and others, resulting in a bad representation which dominates the good representation.

People with Borderline Personality Disorder are especially prone to splitting causing the breakdown of social relationships as they often seek to positions of control in social situations, are hypersensitive to criticism, are prone to paranoia, and have an intense need for social acceptance. Additionally their often "domineering, intrusive, and vindictive styles of relating to others correlated with perpetrating psychological aggression," thus reducing their ability to resolve conflicts amicably.

In CBT (cognitive behavioral therapy), the instability that characterizes BPD is seen to come from patterns of thoughts, feelings, and memories that are maladaptive. The back and forth splitting of idealization and devaluation is unique feature of BPD and may cause individuals to believe that they will be abused if they put trust in someone which can cause individuals to create a simplistic view of how other people think and act. It is also seen as an over simplistic way that individuals with BPD interpret the motives that others may have when it comes to themselves and their well-being.

Narcissistic Personality Disorder

People matching the diagnostic criteria for narcissistic personality disorder also use splitting as a central defense mechanism. Most often narcissists do this as an attempt to stabilize their sense of self-positivity in order to preserve their self-esteem, by perceiving themselves as purely upright or admirable and others who do not conform to their will or values as purely wicked or contemptible.

The cognitive habit of splitting also implies the use of other related defense mechanisms, namely idealization and devaluation, which are preventive attitudes or reactions to narcissistic rage and narcissistic injury. The heightened sense of self idealization in splitting can create an inflated sense of self where individuals view themselves as doing no wrong and placing all blame and aggression on others.

The main components of narcissistic personality disorder includes an extreme sensitivity to criticism due to their ‘do no wrong’ ideas of self, developing a sense of entitlement compared to those around them, issues within their relationship lives, feeling like they are unique and different, a developed need to be admired by those around them, a lack of empathy, and a lack of impulse and anger control. These characteristics can cause someone with NPD to split at any time with either one or all characteristics simultaneously based on who they are around at the time and how they interpret the way they are being treated.

Schizophrenia

In Schizophrenia, the term splitting is described as mental fragmentation or a loosening of their mental associations. They are shown to have a lower ability to retrieve information solely from memory and make slower physical and mental decisions. Splitting in schizophrenia is likely related to a decrease in amygdala activity and a lack of control of the prefrontal cortex which may reflect an inability to express feelings and emotions.

Unlike BPD and NPD, splitting in schizophrenia is not characterized by a split of the ego like thoughts of all good or all bad, grandiosity, or a sense of entitlement. Instead, splitting in schizophrenia is characterized by a split of consciousness in which an individual may exhibit psychopathological manifestations due to their decreased mental tensions and inhibited brain activity. This can also lead to individuals integrating their memories which is where their brain activities and memory combine and overlap that creates memories that are made up of one another.