Treatment histories of borderline inpatients.

In this study, we describe the types and amounts of psychiatric treatment received by a well-defined sample of borderline personality disorder (BPD) inpatients, and compare these parameters with those of a group of carefully diagnosed personality-disordered controls. Finally, we assess the risk factors associated with a history of intensive, high-cost treatment, which we defined as having had two or more prior psychiatric hospitalizations. The treatment histories of 290 borderline inpatients and 72 axis II controls were assessed using a reliable semistructured interview. All nine forms of treatment studied except electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) were common among borderline patients (36% to 96%). In addition, a significantly higher percentage of borderline patients than axis II controls reported a history of individual and group therapy, day and residential treatment, psychiatric hospitalization, participating in self-help groups, and taking standing medications. They were also significantly younger when they first entered individual therapy and began to take standing medications. In addition, borderline patients spent more time than axis II controls in individual therapy and psychiatric hospitals, and were on standing medications for a significantly longer period of time. They also reported a significantly higher number of psychiatric hospitalizations, lifetime number of standing medications, and number of psychotropic medications taken at the same time. In addition, we found a highly significant multivariate predictive model for multiple prior hospitalizations. The six significant predictors were age 26 or older, a history of quasi psychotic thought, lifetime number of self-mutilative efforts and suicide attempts, a childhood history of reported sexual abuse, and an adult history of being physically and/or sexually assaulted. Taken together, these results confirm clinical impressions concerning the high rates of mental health services used by borderline patients. They also suggest that particularly high rates of costly inpatient treatment are associated with a complex admixture of older age, BPD symptoms in the cognitive and impulse realms, and traumatic life experiences occurring in both childhood and adulthood.

Biparental failure in the childhood experiences of borderline patients.

The purpose of this study was to assess the role of biparental abuse and neglect in the development of borderline personality disorder (BPD). A semistructured research interview was used to blindly assess the childhood experiences of biparental abuse and neglect reported by 358 borderline inpatients and 109 axis II controls. Eighty-four percent of borderline patients reported having experienced some type of biparental abuse or neglect before the age of 18; 55% reported a childhood history of biparental abuse; 77% reported a childhood history of biparental neglect. These experiences were also reported by a substantial percentage of Axis II controls (biparental abuse or neglect [61%], biparental abuse [31%], and biparental neglect [55%]). However, borderline patients were significantly more likely than axis II controls to report having been verbally, emotionally, and physically but not sexually abused by caretakers of both sexes. They were also significantly more likely than controls to report having caretakers of both sexes deny the validity of their thoughts and feelings, fail to provide them with needed protection, neglect their physical care, withdraw from them emotionally, and treat them inconsistently. It was also found that female borderlines who reported a previous history of neglect by a female caretaker and abuse by a male caretaker were at significantly higher risk for having been sexually abused by a noncaretaker. Taken together, the results of this study suggest that biparental failure may be a significant factor in the etiology of BPD. They also suggest that biparental failure may significantly increase a preborderline girl's risk of being sexually abused by someone other than her parents.

The pain of being borderline: dysphoric states specific to borderline personality disorder.

The objective of this study was to identify the dysphoric states that best characterize patients meeting criteria for borderline personality disorder and distinguish them from those in patients with other forms of personality disorder. One hundred forty-six patients with criteria-defined borderline personality disorder and 34 Axis II controls filled out the Dysphoric Affect Scale, a 50-item self-report measure that was designed for this purpose and has good internal consistency and test-retest reliability. Twenty-five dysphoric states (mostly affects) were found to be significantly more common among borderline patients than controls but nonspecific to borderline personality disorder. Twenty-five other dysphoric states (mostly cognitions) were found to be both significantly more common among borderline patients than controls and highly specific to borderline personality disorder. These states tended to fall into one of four clusters: (1) extreme feelings, (2) destructiveness or self-destructiveness, (3) fragmentation or "identitylessness," and (4) victimization. In addition, three of the 25 more-specific states (feeling betrayed, like hurting myself, and completely out of control), when occurring together, were particularly strongly associated with the borderline diagnosis. Equally important, overall mean Dysphoric Affect Scale scores correctly distinguished borderline personality disorder from other personality disorders in 84% of the subjects. Taken together, the results of this study suggest that the subjective pain of borderline patients may be both more pervasive and more multifaceted than previously recognized, and that the overall "amplitude" of this pain may be a particularly good marker for the borderline diagnosis.