Borderline traits are indicative of thinking patterns that are out of the societal norm. What we refer to as black and white thinking is a primitive pattern that dates back to early childhood. When a two year old looks at the world, they see things as going entirely their way, or as a disaster. Mom is here, and feeding me, so she must be good. Mom is in the other room, she therefore doesn’t exist (object constancy) so she has abandoned me, and is bad. The inability to change their mind easily is cognitive rigidity. That is what makes BPD so hard to recover from, because, it’s all the Non’s fault anyway.
When someone with BP traits does change their mind, they change it all the way. If it was bad to do something, and they decide it must be good, then it must be completely good. If a person was a good person, and they’ve done something bad, they must now be a bad person. This of course leads to splitting. However, it’s a more general thinking pattern. The entire world is viewed in black and white terms. Much as it would be seen by members of a cult.
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