Neurosis, Psychosomatics, and Borderline Personality

By Hamida Xardel-Haddab

The author proposes to examine the fate of aggressive drives in three types of functioning: borderline functioning, psychosomatic functioning, and normal-neurotic functioning, using a psychodynamic approach based on the Rorschach test, the analysis of a clinical research interview, and the 16PF5 questionnaire. This study is based on a single-case methodology. It focuses on the orientation of behavior in the first two functioning styles in relation to defensive organization and the nature of anxiety. From this arises a central hypothesis: the more the psychic functioning is marked by a predominantly projective defensive organization, the more aggressive drives are externalized through behavioral acts associated with loud and intense anxiety. Conversely, the more the defensive functioning is marked by a dominant repressive and inhibitory tendency, the more likely aggressive drives are to be channeled into somatic acting out, associated with unmanifest anxiety.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 6209709281
• ISBN13: 9786209709289
• Release Date: March 2026
• Publisher: Our Knowledge Publishing
• Length: 212 Pages
• Weight: 0.64 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 6.0" x 9.0"