A Research on the Characteristics in the Initial Sandtray and the Pathological Model and Inner World Model of Patients with Borderline Personality Disorder

Abstract

We used a case-control study design to explore the particular inner world of the borderline personality disorder with sandplay therapy and to summarize the characteristics in the initial sandtray of the borderline personality disorder. The research selected 56 university students with borderline personality disorder as the experimental group and 30 normal university students as the control group. All the 86 students applied the initial sandplay operation. We collected the initial sandtrays and analyzed them by t test, Chi-square test and regression analysis. The results showed: 1) the most typical characteristics in BPD patients' initial sandtrays were splitting, fantastic presentation and borderline problem, and the most frequent wounded themes were isolation and splitting. 2) The pathological characteristics and the defense mechanisms of BPD could be clearly presented in the initial sandtray. 3) Based on the analysis of the initial sandtray and the new literatures, we proposed a creative opinion about the individual-family-society pathological model and the inner world model of BPD patients. The results show that patients with borderline personality disorder have significant characteristics in the sandplay, and the initial sandtray also has a clinical psychological assessment value.