Sample Solution

This case study involves a 31-year old woman, Jodie, who exhibits the classic symptoms of Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). She suffers from intense bouts of anger and feelings of emptiness which have severely impacted the relationships in her life. While she doesn’t know why she acts the way she does, she has come to the realization that she needs help and is currently seeking treatment. This case study will show the development of Jodie’s self has been severely disrupted by biological and environmental factors. It is my suggestion that deficiencies in her childhood have contributed to the disruption of her development which has resulted in borderline personality disorder. More specifically, it is my opinion that Jodie was neglected or abused as a young child which has resulted in a maladaptive schema.

THE CASE

According to the case study prompt for Psychology 310: Psychology of Personality, Jodie is a 31-year old woman who came to me for help in order to get her anger under control. In her last several relationships with men, she has been guilty of hitting and/or throwing things at them. She states she doesn’t know why she acts like this because she ‘really loved all of them.’ During the course of our conversation, I discover she has been married and divorced three times, and in the last year she has had 4 ‘serious’ relationships. She has attempted suicide twice (pill overdoses) in response to ‘bad breakups’ with various boyfriends and husbands. (Stewart, n.d.)

Jodie is also a compulsive shopper and compulsive eater. She has been known to max out her credit cards on shopping binges, and has a habit of binging and purging food. She states she mostly engages in these kinds of behavior when her relationships are ‘getting bad.’ She says when she is in a relationship, it’s very intense and that her whole world looks brighter yet when the relationship begins to crumble, she goes through periods of intense depression and suicidal thoughts. She states she has resorted, more than once, to falsely