Gunderson's conception of BPD
Gunderson, a psychoanalyst, is respected by researchers in many diverse areas of psychology and psychiatry. His focus tends to be on the differential diagnosis of Borderline Personality Disorder, and Cauwels gives Gunderson's criteria in order of their importance:

	•	Intense unstable relationships in which the borderline always ends up getting hurt. Gunderson admits that this symptom is somewhat general, but considers it so central to BPD that he says he would hesitate to diagnose a patient as BPD without its presence.
	•	Repetitive self-destructive behavior, often designed to prompt rescue.
	•	Chronic fear of abandonment and panic when forced to be alone.
	•	Distorted thoughts/perceptions, particularly in terms of relationships and interactions with others.
	•	Hypersensitivity, meaning an unusual sensitivity to nonverbal communication. Gunderson notes that this can be confused with distortion if practitioners are not careful (somewhat similar to Herman's statement that, while survivors of intense long-term trauma may have unrealistic notions of the power realities of the situation they were in, their notions are likely to be closer to reality than the therapist might think).
	•	Impulsive behaviors that often embarrass the borderline later.
	•	Poor social adaptation: in a way, borderlines tend not to know or understand the rules regarding performance in job and academic settings.