Borderline personality features, post-traumatic play, defense mechanisms, and affect regulation among maltreated children: A preliminary study
Lack of parents’ emotional availability and unpredictable responses to the child’s needs have important consequences for the development of affect regulation and mature defense mechanisms. Children exposed to potentially traumatic events in the parent-child relationship have greater risk of developing borderline personality features. This exploratory study aims to identify characteristics that may be related to borderline personality and could be observed in a free play segment. The research involved 15 school-aged children living in foster care facilities under the Child Protective Services who have been exposed to traumatic events in their family. Participants completed the French version of the Borderline Personality Features Scale for Children (BPFS-C) and participated in a 30 minutes free play session. The play segments were analyzed using the Children’s Play Therapy Instrument (CPTI). Firstly, the sample’s characteristics are described. Secondly, correlation is used to explore the relationships between borderline personality features, defense mechanisms, affect regulation and characteristics of the play. Results suggest that the play segment of the majority of the participants show traumatic play, immature defense mechanisms, and rigid affect regulation. Finally, the type of defense mechanisms seems to be related to the ability to regulate affects.