This paper dose not refer directly to the borderline personality disorder, but it examines some striking distortions of family system caused by the borderline personality disorder and the therapeutic approaches to such a system.

　　In the case of child borderline personality disorder, it seems that the boundary of each subsystem of spouse and peer group is not clear, that the family members cannot communicate with each other so well, and that the parental subsystem is not functioning perfectly.

　　It is not sure who should take the role and function to resolve the family problems when the boundary between spouse and peer subsystems is diffused. Assisting in making the clean boundary between spouse and peer subsystems, the therapist, especialy, focuses on increasing the father’s power in terms of interpersonal relationship within the family, because it is based on the hypothesis that the father’s influence will still be powerful in such an enmeshed family.

　　In this case, when the spouse and the peer group boundary became clear and the relationship between IP’s father and mother was basically improved, his symptoms also was improved and he could return to school.

　　To find relationships between the adolescents' tendency toward problem behavior and their parent-child relations, interview data of 246 adolescents' cases in Japan and Korea were reviewed. The outcomes of this comparative study across both countries are followings:

　1. As to the age distribution of identified cases, Japanese subjects showed the peak at 15 years old, while Koreans did at 16 years old.

　2. Although there were more male subjects than female in both countries, female ratio was slightly higher in Japan than in Korea.

　3. When comparing the types of adolescents’ problem behavior between both countries, “school refusal” was rated very high in Japan, whereas “delinquency” was the highest in Korea.

　4. Almost subjects (about 80%) of both countries were bred in a normal family. However, the ratio of fatherless/motherless children was higher in Korea (12.1%) than in Japan (7.6%).

　5. There was significant deference of socio-economic level of their families between both countries. Japanese cases involved more upper class families, while Korean cases did more lower class families.

　6. As to the fathers' attitude toward their children, there were significant differences between both countries. Japanese fathers interfered less in their child's living affairs than Korean fathers did, and Korean fathers were more despotic than Japanese.

　7. As to the mothers’ attitude toward their children, there were significant deferences in the categories of “protection” and “non-interference” between both countries. Japanese mothers were more protective, and Korean mothers were more non-interfering than their respective counter parts.

　8. As to children’s attitude toward their fathers, the biggest difference was in the categories of “escape”, “rebel”, and “dependence”. Japanese subjects tended to be more offensive to and dependent on their fathers, while Korean subjects tended to be escaping from and rebellious to their fathers.

　9. As to children’s attitude toward their mothers, the differences were big in the categories of “rebel”, “attack”, and “intimacy”. Japanese subjects were more rebellious and offensive, and Korean subjects were more intimate with their mothers.

　　The public counseling agency in the neighborhood community has two expected roles: not only to give counseling sessions to clients but also to refer them to relevant medical agencies. Concerning the referral, many researchers have studied the definition of referral and essential points that we should attend to when we refer. There are few researches, however, which focus on the referral itself and the process of referral from a therapeutic viewpoint.

　　Now I would like to discuss the process of referral through the so-called doctor-shopping case. Recently, I had a mother-daughter case who came to our agency asking, "We want you to refer us to the agencies for psychotherapy." They had visited 9 medical agencies in 4 years. I have gradually noticed through several counseling sessions that they enjoyed "the game" of visiting many medical agencies not for medication but for gaining attention. The daughter was a 21-year-old who had a borderline personality disorder. Their purpose in life seemed to look for medical agencies which does not prescribe any medication. It struck me that mother and daughter had a different idea of the problem and how to approach it. Therefore, I pointed out to them their deference concerning medical agencies, their images of therapeutic approach and their motivations for stopping "the game". Finally, I was able to make them agree about their intentions, and also help the daughter to be more compliant about taking the medication.

　　In the process of psychotherapy on a case who suffered from aquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), we counseled one of his family members (his second daughter). She had been trying to defend her father from the prejudice against AIDS that was likely to occur in his neighborhood. We found that her fear depended upon her sorrow for the loss of her father (object-loss), and we explained how mourning work occurs during the loss of a family member. After she accepted our explanation, she got to see her father as a person who was dying of the illness which was to be free from social prejudice.

　　Since AIDS cases through sexual intercourse are increasing in Japan, many mental problems are likely to occur in the near future. We discussed mental processes of the couples in coping to AIDS, and concluded that the construction of the coping strategies to this illness is the most important. Divorce would occur, however, in some cases. Suppressed aggression to the partner works as its cause. The first step of marriage counseling must be oriented to dissolve it.

　　It was concluded that giving information on a patient's condition is important in order to reduce anxiety among his/her family members at the last stage of degenerative diseases such as AIDS.