The study examined 22 women diagnosed with borderline personality disorder (DBP), dissociative experiences, and childhood abuse. Psychological testing found that 70% had flooding responses on Rorschach tests, while 30% had avoidance responses. Tests also found high traumatic content indices and dissociative scores meeting established criteria. MMPI-2 profiles agreed with literature on DBP and dissociation. Drawing tests also showed abuse and trauma indexes. WAIS-R scores confirmed good cognitive functioning and preserved abilities of working memory and divided attention, supporting the hypothesis that dissociation represents an adaptive information processing style.

1. Dott.ssa Diana Galletta MD PhD**; Dott. Nicola Vangone*,Dott.ssa Annamaria Immacolata Califano*; Dott. Stefano De Simone*; Dott.ssa Valentina Suarato; Dott.ssa Virginia Federica Papa* ; Dott.ssa Anna Maria
Mastrola*;
**MD-PhD Department of Neuroscience, University of Naples Federico II –Psychiatric Clinic - Surgery of Clinical Psychodiagnostics and Neuropsychology
* Volunteer Psychologist Psychiatric Clinic - Surgery of Clinical Psychodiagnostics and Neuropsychology of University of Naples Federico II
Introduction
In literature, the link between childhood abuse stories, trauma, unresolved attachment and psychopathological manifestations characterized by the presence of
significant dissociative symptoms is well documented (Van der Kolk, Mc Farlane, Weisaeth 1996; Marmar, 1997 ; Cosci and Colleagues, 2004; Vermetten, Spiegel,
2014; Ammaniti,2015).
The treatment of this kind of clinical pictures is very problematic because of dysfunctional relational dynamics acted by patients. As we know, DBP patients and
those with unresolved attachment show poor emotion regulation (Mosquera et al 2014; Brune et al. 2016). About that, a very recent study (Buchheim et al 2016)
found an alteration of the neural mechanism involved in the top-down control process of emotional distress both in DBP patients and in those with unresolved
attachment.
Research Objectives
As showed by other authors, the present study is aimed at highlighting:
• The traumatic impact of early adverse attachment experiences on the personality organization;
• An alternative view of the dissociation, as proposed by some authors (de Ruiter, Elzinga, Phaf, 2008; Elzinga, Phaf, Ardon, & Van Dyck, 2003), and conceived
as an adaptive cognitive elaboration style, based on more efficient working memory and divided attention abilities.
Materials and Methods
In this study, we have selected 22 women characterized by a diagnosis of borderline personality disorder, dissociative experiences and childhood abuse stories, and
then we have subjected them to a full psychodiagnostic battery, with the purpose to investigate their intellectual functioning, their emotional dimension, and their
personality profile. This battery included the use of the following tools: WAIS-R, MMPI-2, RORSCHACH test and DRAWING test. Below, we have reported a brief
description of the psychodignostic tools utilized.
Conclusions
Data collected in this study seem to validate the hypothesis that trauma and abuse, especially if those experiences recur in early age, can have a strong
impact on the development of defensive dissociative symptoms and on the personality organization. The psychodiagnostic data allow us to confirm the
presence of significant difficulties in emotion regulation and the structuring of non-integrated and discontinuous representation of self and others.
Moreover, data about the cognitive functioning of these subjects seem to confirm the assumptions highlighted in the literature (de Ruiter, Elzinga, Phaf,
2008; Elzinga, Phaf, Ardon, & Van Dyck, 2003): the presence of both a preserved working memory span and an efficient ability to divide attention allows
these subjects to divert attention from the memories of traumatic experiences, and, at same time, to avoid the overloading of the information processing
mechanisms involved in the normal daily tasks. In this context, the dissociation would represent a specific and adaptive information processing style
probably traceable even in non-clinical subjects. This last hypothesis, however, requires future investigations.
References
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The role of dissociation in patients with diagnosis of Borderline Personality
Disorder (DBP) and adverse attachment experiences
Results
 Rorschach tests show:
- A high number of responses (flooding) for 70% of cases and only 30% of the protocols responds to the type “avoidance” ;
- A significant clinical value of Traumatic Content Index according to the Italian validation by Cotti et al 2008, for which the cut off is critical >26; the detected
indices are set within a range between 27 and 76;
- Meet the criteria of dissociative score and have atypical motion content (Saunders 1991) for 85% of cases ;
- Meet the criteria dissociative Wagner, Allison (1983) for 75% of cases;
 MMPI-2
- Examined for codes and tips show personality profiles agree with the literature available to us, and more specifically, shows significant concordance between
the elevation of the F Scale, the elevation of basic clinical scales Sc and Pd, the presence of dissociation indices, as well as scientific studies show.
 Abuse and trauma indexes can also be observed in drawing tests.
 Good cognitive functioning confirmed by the WAIS-R scores that fall in the medium high range and that highlight the presence of preserved abilities of working
memory and divided attention.