Self-equilibration, borderline personality disorder, and dance-movement therapy.

Although borderline personality disorder can manifest in different ways, instability and dysregulation appear to be key symptomatic features; subjects commonly exhibit affective dysregulation, an unstable sense of self, and instability and their interpersonal relationships. To make sense of such ins...

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Publicado en:Synthese Vol. 206; no. 1; pp. 1 - 26
Autor principal: Maiese, Michelle
Formato: Artículo
Publicado: Springer Nature Jul2025
Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
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        atl: Self-equilibration, borderline personality disorder, and dance-movement therapy.
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        au: Maiese, Michelle
        affil: https://ror.org/02rdhhs90 Department of Philosophy, Emmanuel College, 02120, Boston, MA, USA
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        Borderline personality disorder
        Dance-movement therapy
        Emotion regulation
        Enactivism
        Equilibration
        Habit
        Narrative psychotherapy
        Trauma
      ab: Although borderline personality disorder can manifest in different ways, instability and dysregulation appear to be key symptomatic features; subjects commonly exhibit affective dysregulation, an unstable sense of self, and instability and their interpersonal relationships. To make sense of such instability, some theorists have argued that this condition centers around disruptions to self-narration and the absence of a unifying life story. If this account is roughly correct, it would support the use of narrative psychotherapy to treat BPD. However, because buried traces of childhood trauma can interfere with the formation of a coherent verbal narrative, psychotherapy on its own may not prove to be sufficient. To devise a more adequate treatment approach, I propose that we draw upon insights from enactivism and the notion of equilibration. Self-equilibration, as I understand it, is an ongoing process whereby an agent regulates and adjusts their sensorimotor and affective habits so that they become more well-integrated, coherent, and responsive to relevant considerations. In cases of BPD, trauma results in engrained, repetitive habits that keep subjects locked into defensive response patterns. Associated disruptions to self-equilibration manifest as affective instability, an unstable sense of self, and unstable interpersonal relationships. This account of BPD highlights the need for a bottom-up, body-oriented treatment approach that more directly targets implicit memories of trauma and helps subjects to modify habitual impulses. I propose that dance-movement therapy (used in conjunction with narrative psychotherapy) can help subjects with BPD to develop self-regulative capacities.
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