As explored in chapter 3, the pre-borderline child often grows up feeling inauthentic due to various environmental circumstances—suffering physical or sexual abuse or being forced to adopt an adult’s role while still a child or to parent his own sick parent. At the other extreme, he may be discouraged from maturing and separating, and may be trapped in a dependent child’s role, well past an appropriate time for separation. In all of these situations, the emerging borderline identity never develops a separate sense of self but continues to “fake” a role that is prescribed by someone else.
