According to Robert Friedel (2011), the first descriptions of people with symptoms of borderline personality disorder were mentioned in medical reports 3,000 years ago. However, it was not until 1938 that the disease was categorized and identified. An American psychoanalyst named Adolph Stern was the first to describe most of the symptoms and suggest possible causes and reasons for the development of borderline personality disorder, as well as his opinion on the most effective forms of treatment. He eventually named this disorder referring to patients with the symptoms he described as "the borderline group." (Friedel, 2011) In the 1960s, psychoanalyst Otto Kernberg proposed that mental disorders are determined by three distinct personality organizations: psychotic, neurotic, and “borderline personality.” Kernberg has been a strong proponent of modified psychoanalytic therapy for some patients with borderline personality disorder. (Friedel, 2011) In 1975, John Gunderson and Margaret Singer compiled all the relevant, known and published information about borderline personality disorder, and published their own widely received article that defined its main characteristics. Gunderson also published a specific research instrument to improve the accurate diagnosis of borderline personality disorder. This instrument has allowed researchers around the world to verify the validity and integrity of borderline personality disorder. Through their efforts, borderline personality disorder first appeared in the DSM-III as a legitimate psychiatric disorder in 1980. (Friedel, 2011). In 1979, John Brinkley, Bernard Beitman, and Robert Friedel proposed that low doses of neuroleptics were effective in reducing symptoms. of borderline personality disorder...... middle of document ......m http://www.nami.org/Template.cfm?Section=By_Illness&Template=/TaggedPage/ TaggedPageDisplay.cfm&TPLID=54&ContentID=44780NAMI . (nd). Mental illnesses: borderline personality disorder. Retrieved from http://www.nami.org/Template.cfm?Section=By_Illness&Template=/TaggedPageTaggedPageDisplay.cfm&TPLID=54Preston, J., O'Neal, J., & Talaga, M. (2010). Handbook of clinical psychopharmacology for therapists. (6th edition). Oakland, CA: New Harbinger Publications, Inc. SAMHSA. (nd). American Art Therapy Association. Retrieved from http://www.samhsa.gov/children/aatahandout.aspSAMHSA. (nd). Myths and facts about mental health. Retrieved from http://stopstigma.samhsa.gov/publications/myths_facts.aspxZanarini, M. (1997). Role of sexual abuse in the etiology of borderline personality disorder. Arlington, Virginia: American Psychiatric Publishing Inc.