A nurse set limits for a patient diagnosed with a borderline personality disorder. The patient tells the nurse, "You used to care about me. I thought you were wonderful. Now I can see I was mistaken. You're terrible." This outburst can be assessed as:

A) denial.
B) splitting.
C) reaction formation.
D) separation-individuation strategies.

Splitting involves loving a person and then hating the person; the patient is unable to recognize that an individual can have both positive and negative qualities. Denial is an unconscious motivated refusal to believe something. Reaction formation involves unconsciously doing the opposite of a forbidden impulse. Separation-individuation strategies refer to childhood behaviors related to developing independence from the caregiver.