Personal Identity and Narrativity in Borderline Personality Disorder: A Phenomenological Reconfiguration.

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a complex condition marked by heterogeneity. People with BPD have a profusion of symptoms spread across various levels of lived experience, such as identity, affectivity, and interpersonal relationships. Researchers and clinicians have often resorted to the structuring concept of Self to organize the fragmentation of their experience at the identity level. Notably, using the concept of the narrative self, Fuchs proposed to interpret BPD as a fragmentation of narrative identity. This interpretation of BPD, widely shared, has been challenged by Gold and Kyratsous, who have proposed a complementary understanding of the self through the idea of agency, and to which Schmidt and Fuchs in turn have countered. This article proposes to contribute to this discussion from a phenomenological perspective. First, we will briefly review the discussions around narrative interpretation of BPD. From the problems left unresolved by the discussion, we will then justify the necessity to proceed with a stratification of the self from a phenomenology method. Third, from the thought of the Hungarian phenomenologist László Tengelyi, we will continue with an archaeology of the self, in three layers - self-institution, self-formation, and minimal self - integrating Schmidt and Fuchs' concepts of self, in addition to those of Gold and Kyratsous, but also, to a lesser extent, those of Dan Zahavi. Finally, we will proceed with a phenomenological reconfiguration of the experiences and manifestations associated with the identity axis of BPD.

Imagination and Self Disorders in Schizophrenia: A Review.

Anomalies of imagination are frequent and handicapping in schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSDs) but neglected in psychopathology due to the lack of a conceptual framework to model disorders of imagination. Recently, the link between minimal self disorders and pathology of imagination has been emphasized. The aim of the present article is to discuss this initiative by stressing their paradigm drawing on the recent imaginary turn in phenomenological research. Although this field of research is currently very active in philosophy, there are very few translational approaches in psychopathology or cognitive sciences. In this paper, we examine how contemporary research concerning fantasy and imagination can lead to the elaboration of an epistemological and phenomenological framework for schizophrenia research. We first examine the psychopathological literature on anomalous fantasy and imagination in SSDs. Then we propose an exhaustive overview of the imaginary turn of philosophical phenomenology. Further, we examine the theoretical and practical implications of such a recasting of phenomenological research. We show how fantasy and imagination are involved in the embodiment process, and how identity and imagination are interlinked. Finally, we propose an overview of the possible implications for the understanding of psychotherapeutic processes and recovery strategies.

[Reconstruction of incisional median hernia with retromuscular mesh and hernial sac]. / Posztoperatív medián sérvek rekonstrukciója retromuscularis helyzetû, sérvzsákkal borított hálóval.

INTRODUCTION: one of the most frequent complications of a laparotomy is the development of an incisional hernia. Proper surgical technique can somewhat reduce the incidence, but it still remains a common sequel. Application of prolene mesh for the reconstruction of the abdominal wall with tension-free methods has excellent results. PATIENTS AND METHODS: between 2001-2005, 50 abdominal wall reconstructions were performed using prolene mesh in sublay position including the peritoneal sac of the incisional hernia. RESULTS: postoperative complication was found in one case only, namely a haematoma was formed in the rectus sheat possibly due to an injury of a branch of the inferior epigastric artery. The haematoma was managed non-operatively by suction drainage. No postoperative respiratory problems were detected; all we noticed was minimal abdominal pain. Patients were mobilized shortly after the surgery. CONCLUSIONS: application of prolene mesh in sublay position including the hernia sac is an effective alternative procedure for preventing postoperative complications, when large incisional hernias are repaired in median laparotomy scars.