In many cases the broken parent-child relationship takes the more severe form of early parental loss or prolonged traumatic separation, or both. As with Dixie, many borderline children have an absent or psychologically disturbed father. Primary mother figures (who may sometimes be the father) tend to be erratic and depressed and have significant psychopathology themselves, often BPD. The borderline family background is frequently marked by incest, violence, and/or alcoholism. Many cases show an ongoing hostile or combative relationship between mother and pre-borderline child.
