{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,9]],"date-time":"2026-06-09T07:03:11Z","timestamp":1780988591322,"version":"3.54.1"},"reference-count":15,"publisher":"Guilford Publications","issue":"1","content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Psychodynamic Psychiatry"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2025,3]]},"abstract":"<jats:p> Borderline personality disorder is a disorder marked by a pattern of contradictory, paradoxical, and self-defeating behavior, yet the communication methods of patients with the condition have remained largely unexamined since the disorder was first described nearly a century ago. This article applies communication theory to the study of borderline personality disorder in an attempt to understand patients' characteristically paradoxical modes of relating. Three types of double-bind communications are examined\u2014the \u201cbe spontaneous\u201d paradox, the covert contract, and the Kafka trap. The potential psychodynamic mechanisms and interpersonal effects of double-bind communication in patients with borderline personality disorder are briefly explored. <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1521\/pdps.2025.53.1.27","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,3,17]],"date-time":"2025-03-17T15:54:22Z","timestamp":1742226862000},"page":"27-32","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":4,"title":["Communication Paradoxes in Borderline Personality Disorder"],"prefix":"10.1521","volume":"53","author":[{"given":"Mark L.","family":"Ruffalo","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, University of Central Florida College of Medicine; Adjunct Instructor of Psychiatry, Tufts University School of Medicine"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"377","reference":[{"key":"ref1","volume-title":"Borderline psychopathology and its treatment.","author":"Adler G.","year":"1985"},{"issue":"4","key":"ref2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"251","DOI":"10.1002\/bs.3830010402","volume":"1","author":"Bateson G.","year":"1956","journal-title":"Behavioral Science"},{"key":"ref3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1521\/pedi.18.2.193.32777"},{"key":"ref4","volume-title":"No more Mr. Nice Guy.","author":"Glover R.","year":"2000"},{"key":"ref5","volume-title":"The trial","author":"Kafka F.","year":"2012"},{"key":"ref6","volume-title":"Psychodynamic psychotherapy of borderline patients.","author":"Kernberg O. F.","year":"1985"},{"key":"ref7","volume-title":"I hate you, don't leave me: Understanding the borderline personality.","author":"Kreisman J. J.","year":"1989"},{"key":"ref8","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1521\/pedi.2010.24.3.285"},{"issue":"5","key":"ref9","volume":"41","author":"Ruffalo M. L.","year":"2024","journal-title":"Psychiatric Times"},{"issue":"4","key":"ref10","first-page":"326","volume":"22","author":"Searles H. F.","year":"1959","journal-title":"Psychiatry"},{"key":"ref11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"132","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1545-5300.1963.00132.x","volume":"2","author":"Watzlawick P.","year":"1966","journal-title":"Family Process"},{"key":"ref12","volume-title":"How real is real? Confusion, disinformation, communication.","author":"Watzlawick P.","year":"1976"},{"key":"ref13","volume-title":"Pragmatics of human communication: A study of interactional patterns, pathologies, and paradoxes.","author":"Watzlawick P.","year":"1967"},{"key":"ref14","first-page":"181","volume-title":"Pragmatics of human communication: A study of interactional patterns, pathologies, and paradoxes","author":"Weakland J. H.","year":"1967"},{"issue":"1","key":"ref15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"18","DOI":"10.1016\/0010-440X(89)90114-4","volume":"30","author":"Zanarini M. C.","year":"1989","journal-title":"Comprehensive Psychiatry"}],"container-title":["Psychodynamic Psychiatry"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,3,17]],"date-time":"2025-03-17T15:56:06Z","timestamp":1742226966000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/guilfordjournals.com\/doi\/10.1521\/pdps.2025.53.1.27"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2025,3]]},"references-count":15,"journal-issue":{"issue":"1","published-print":{"date-parts":[[2025,3]]}},"alternative-id":["10.1521\/pdps.2025.53.1.27"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1521\/pdps.2025.53.1.27","relation":{},"ISSN":["2162-2590"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2162-2590","type":"print"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2025,3]]}}}