ABSTRACT
The difficulty in differentiating the Borderline, from Schizophrenia and sociopathic personality, springs from the fact that these three disorders probably originate in closely related developmental phases and therefore have similar—though not the same—levels of ego fixation. This is reflected clinically in the Borderline’s psychopathology which often contains traces that simulate one or both of the other disorders. For example, fluid ego boundaries, paranoid ideation, or transient psychotic episodes (usually under separation stress) raise the possibility of schizophrenia, while the ever-present acting out of the Borderline brings the diagnosis of sociopath to mind.
