{"value"=>"<p> <span class=\"title\">A Comparison of Movement Characteristics Between Patients With a Borderline Diagnosis and Patients With Borderline Features</span></p> <p>The literature review provides background information on the history and the definition of Borderline Personality Disorder, including theories of development, intrapsychic structure and defense mechanisms, from various authors. The literature also covers research on group therapy with borderline and dance therapy with borderlines. This paper presents a case study of a dance therapy group which is composed of some patients with borderline diagnoses and some with borderline features. The study was done at the day center at St. Luke's Hospital in New York City.</p> <p>The purpose of this study is to see if there are movement characteristics which are specific to patients with Borderline Personality Disorder as opposed to those with borderline features. Also looked at are similarities and differences between these two groups of patients. There is special emphasis on how borderline pathology is manifested in the way that the patients related to each other and to their environment. The study illustrates the difficulty which both the borderlines and the patients with borderline features have in expressing themselves in movement and in relating to others and to their environment. The non-borderlines seem to have greater ego strength to create a supportive environment within which to move. Referring to the literature, it is suggested that the borderlines have such difficulty in dance therapy because they are still relying on primitive defense mechanisms and they have an excessive amount of aggression due to real or imagined past experiences. These reasons cause borderlines to have undeveloped ego strengths which would allow them to defend against their impulses and maintain greater body boundaries. It is hoped that this understanding will help in establishing a framework for working with borderlines in the dance therapy setting.</p>"}