[The concept of developmentally-induced structural ego disorders--a reference frame for working with extremely borderline patients?].

The concept of developmental-structural ego defects provides a therapeutic framework for the treatment of patients who have, in the past, largely been classified as untreatable. With emphasis on individual therapeutic treatment, this paper provides a critical introduction to the concept and discusses the applicability of this therapeutic approach for extremely lower-lower class patients: patients doubly stigmatized by psychological illness and criminality who are treated in a forensic-psychiatric clinic.