Psychotic symptoms, such as hallucinations and delusions, occur in up to 60% of patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD), yet diagnostic frameworks often overlook them by focusing on emotional instability and relationship problems. This review traces the historical view of BPD as related to schizophrenia and examines the nature of these psychotic experiences. Drawing on psychoanalytic object-relations theory, the authors argue that psychotic symptoms in BPD serve a restorative function, helping maintain internal relational continuity during psychic breakdown. These symptoms are not incidental but reflect core features of the disorder, warranting greater clinical attention and theoretically informed treatment.
Empirical dream research and psychoanalytic metapsychology have undergone parallel shifts in how they conceptualize dreaming, with dreaming increasingly seen as a central metaphor for mental functioning. In metapsychology, the theories of Klein, Bion, and Matte-Blanco mark this paradigm shift, while in empirical research, competing theories by Hobson and Solms debated whether dream-work is meaningful for mental functioning. Empirical data now suggest that dream consciousness is significant for developing and maintaining adaptive waking consciousness. The author synthesizes these developments, draws conclusions for psychoanalytic theory and technique, and proposes an empirical research plan to test psychoanalysis's specificity in dream formation.
Buddhist meditation and psychoanalytic listening share common ground, but the literature overlooks how the dynamic unconscious affects attention, leading to an overvaluation of focused attention and a devaluation of the analyst's inattentive experiences. Contemporary psychoanalytic theories align with basic Buddhist principles and shape recommendations for listening. The role of intention in psychoanalytic listening is examined through Zen Buddhist and contemporary psychoanalytic views of fluctuating mind states like reverie.