Q. I am writing this because I am interested in this area regarding borderline personality on a nursing unit and splitting. I have been the subject of this experience and it is not a pleasant one.
Does in fact the person that the staff is splitting against have a possible weak personality or what is the cause of this splitting? How can the nurse be sure that this never occurs again.
A. Splitting is a controversial area. It generally involves what happens when a borderline is experiencing dysphoria - and maladaptive survival mechanisms take over.
Just like a football team looks for weaknesses in it's opponent, an individual who perceives his/her life is at risk may indeed look for, and sometimes find, weaknesses in the other individual.
Since the splitting comes from someone else, you can never prevent it from happening. You can however learn to interpret it differently and cope with it differently.