Prospective studies of outcome. Understanding mechanisms of change in patients with borderline personality disorder.

The authors propose a conceptual model of recovery from BPD that takes into account empiric findings regarding the dynamic relationships between severity of BPD symptoms, age, impulsivity, and duration of a healing relationship. The model assumes that each factor related to the course of BPD essentially lies on a continuum and interacts with the remaining important factors. The model also preserves the relative relationships, with age and impulsivity being primarily important and the duration of a healing relationship being independent but overall of less importance in modifying the course of illness. (Having said this, however, modifying the presence of a healing relationship may be more accessible for therapists.) By 7 to 10 years' follow-up, half of patients with BPD will be characterized as remitted. Efforts to keep these patients alive through the early course of the disorder will see many patients through to the resolution of the disorder. Impulsivity is a primary element of the disorder that predicts the course of BPD, with impulsivity becoming less as patients age. Efforts to modify the levels of impulsivity, such as rehabilitation for substance-abuse disorder, pharmacologic interventions, and cognitive-behavioral therapies to reduce impulsivity, may affect the course of the disorder. Exposure to an intimate relationship, such as a successful marriage, also may impact the course by allowing the person to be involved in a healing relationship. Additional studies are needed on the role of couple and marital interventions with BPD patients because the development of successful relationships may modify the course of the disorder. This model of change in BPD is conceptually heuristic and accounts for the complex interplay of factors that modify the course of BPD but accounts for the empiric findings to date. This model is also presented to assist clinicians in understanding and conceptualizing the primary features affecting recovery for these patients. As new findings become available, this model should be modified to reflect the nature of those findings and extend the understanding of the course of BPD and the factors that modify that course of illness.     

Training emotional intelligence improves both emotional intelligence and depressive symptoms in inpatients with borderline personality disorder and depression

Abstract Objective. Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is defined as a pervasive pattern of instability in emotion, mood and interpersonal relationships, with a comorbidity between PBD and depressive disorders (DD). A key competence for successful management of interpersonal relationships is emotional intelligence (EI). Given the low EI of patients suffering from BPD, the present study aimed at investigating the effect on both emotional intelligence and depression of training emotional intelligence in patients with BPD and DD. Methods. A total of 30 inpatients with BPD and DD (53% females; mean age 24.20 years) took part in the study. Patients were randomly assigned either to the treatment or to the control group. Pre- and post-testing 4 weeks later involved experts' rating of depressive disorder and self-reported EI. The treatment group received 12 sessions of training in components of emotional intelligence. Results. Relative to the control group, EI increased significantly in the treatment group over time. Depressive symptoms decreased significantly over time in both groups, though improvement was greater in the treatment than the control group. Conclusion. For inpatients suffering from BPD and DD, regular skill training in EI can be successfully implemented and leads to improvements both in EI and depression. Results suggest an additive effect of EI training on both EI and depressive symptoms.     

Affect intensity and lability: the role of posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms in borderline personality disorder

Background: Emotion dysregulation is likely a core psychological process underlying the heterogeneity of presentations in borderline personality disorder (BPD) and is associated with BPD symptom severity. Emotion dysregulation has also been independently associated with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a disorder that has been found to co‐occur with BPD in 30.2% of cases in a nationally representative sample. However, relatively little is known about the specific relationships between emotion dysregulation and PTSD among those diagnosed with BPD. The purpose of this study was to evaluate relationships between PTSD symptom severity and negative affect intensity and affective lability among individuals with BPD. Method: Participants were 67 individuals diagnosed with BPD (79% women; M _age = 38, SD = 10), who reported one or more DSM‐IV PTSD Criterion A events. Results: Hierarchical multiple regression analyses indicated that when examined concurrently with BPD symptom severity, PTSD symptom severity, but not BPD symptom severity, was related to negative affect intensity and affective lability. Re‐experiencing symptoms uniquely predicted affective lability, and hyperarousal symptoms uniquely predicted negative affect intensity, lending additional support to emerging literature linking re‐experiencing and hyperarousal symptoms with emotion dysregulation. Conclusions: PTSD symptom severity among individuals with a BPD diagnosis is related to elevations in emotion dysregulation. It is important to evaluate whether early treatment of PTSD symptoms provided concurrently with BPD treatment leads to enhanced improvements in emotion regulation among individuals with co‐occurring PTSD and BPD. Depression and Anxiety, 2011. © 2011 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Lifespan attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder and borderline personality disorder symptoms in female patients: a latent class approach

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and borderline personality disorder (BPD) are frequently comorbid. To contribute to a better understanding of the associations regularly found between ADHD and BPD, on the one hand, and the developmental pathways for these disorders, on the other hand, latent class analyses (LCA) were undertaken to identify classes differing in profiles of childhood symptoms of ADHD and adult symptoms of ADHD and BPD. Diagnostic interviews with 103 female outpatients meeting the criteria for ADHD and/or BPD were used to assess current DSM-IV symptoms; childhood symptoms of ADHD were assessed in parent interviews. The latent classes were examined in relation to the DSM-IV conceptualizations of ADHD and BPD. And relations between childhood and adult classes were examined to hypothesize about developmental trajectories. LCA revealed an optimal solution with four distinct symptom profiles: only ADHD symptoms; BPD symptoms and only ADHD symptoms of hyperactivity; BPD symptoms and ADHD symptoms of inattention and hyperactivity; BPD symptoms and ADHD symptoms of inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity. All patients with BPD had some ADHD symptoms in both adulthood and childhood. Hyperactivity was least discriminative of adult classes. Adult hyperactivity was not always preceded by childhood hyperactivity; some cases of comorbid ADHD and BPD symptoms were not preceded by significant childhood ADHD symptoms; and some cases of predominantly BPD symptoms could be traced back to combined symptoms of ADHD in childhood. The results underline the importance of taking ADHD diagnoses into account with BPD. ADHD classification subtypes may not be permanent over time, and different developmental pathways to adult ADHD and BPD should therefore be investigated.     

Obsessive-compulsive disorder comorbid with borderline personality disorder: A long-term case study

Abstract Three case reports of patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD) and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) for more than 10 years are used to illustrate the relationship between OCD and borderline pathology. The recognizable features of the obsessive-compulsive symptoms in these reports are: (i) pervasiveness, the symptomatic overlap of obsessive-compulsive symptoms; (ii) poor insight and resistance; and (iii) obsessive control evident in personal relationships. These features are manifestations of OCD psychopathology as well as of a personality disorder. The symptoms with these features are located hypothetically towards the severe end of the symptomatic spectrum of OCD. The comorbidity is not a simple relationship, and the symptomatology of the comorbid patient is derived from OCD pathology linked with the personality disorder rather than from independent BPD pathology.     

Co-occurrence of bipolar and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorders in children

OBJECTIVES: Pediatric bipolar disorder (BPD) and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) co-occur more frequently than expected by chance. In this review, we examine 4 potential explanations for the high rate of this common co-occurrence: (i) BPD symptom expression leads to overdiagnosis of ADHD in BPD youth; (ii) ADHD is a prodromal or early manifestation of pediatric-onset BPD; (iii) ADHD and associated factors (e.g., psychostimulants) lead to the onset of pediatric BPD; and (iv) ADHD and BPD share an underlying biological etiology (i.e., a common familial or genetic risk or underlying neurophysiology). METHODS: Peer-reviewed publications of studies of children and adolescents with comorbid BPD and ADHD were reviewed. RESULTS: There is a bidirectional overlap between BPD and ADHD in youth, with high rates of ADHD present in children with BPD (up to 85%), and elevated rates of BPD in children with ADHD (up to 22%). Phenomenologic, genetic, family, neuroimaging, and treatment studies revealed that BPD and ADHD have both common and distinct characteristics. While there are data to support all 4 explanations postulated in this paper, the literature most strongly suggests that ADHD symptoms represent a prodromal or early manifestation of pediatric-onset BPD in certain at-risk individuals. Bipolar disorder with comorbid ADHD may thus represent a developmentally specific phenotype of early-onset BPD. CONCLUSIONS: The etiology of comorbid BPD and ADHD is likely multifactorial. Additional longitudinal and biological studies are warranted to clarify the relationships between BPD and ADHD since they may have important diagnostic and treatment implications.     

Concurrent ADHD and bipolar disorder

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) frequently is present concurrently with bipolar disorder (BPD) in youth. This concurrence appears to be more common in younger children. The degree to which ADHD is present in adults with BPD has not been well studied. The psychiatric and behavioral symptoms associated with ADHD and BPD have significant overlap. The core symptoms of BPD are relatively independent and respond to different pharmacologic and behavioral strategies. Although much symptomatic overlap exists between ADHD and BPD, these conditions can be reliably differentiated from each other and require independent treatments that frequently need to be sequenced.     

Training emotional intelligence improves both emotional intelligence and depressive symptoms in inpatients with borderline personality disorder and depression

Abstract

Objective. Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is defined as a pervasive pattern of instability in emotion, mood and interpersonal relationships, with a comorbidity between PBD and depressive disorders (DD). A key competence for successful management of interpersonal relationships is emotional intelligence (EI). Given the low EI of patients suffering from BPD, the present study aimed at investigating the effect on both emotional intelligence and depression of training emotional intelligence in patients with BPD and DD. Methods. A total of 30 inpatients with BPD and DD (53% females; mean age 24.20 years) took part in the study. Patients were randomly assigned either to the treatment or to the control group. Pre- and post-testing 4 weeks later involved experts’ rating of depressive disorder and self-reported EI. The treatment group received 12 sessions of training in components of emotional intelligence. Results. Relative to the control group, EI increased significantly in the treatment group over time. Depressive symptoms decreased significantly over time in both groups, though improvement was greater in the treatment than the control group. Conclusion. For inpatients suffering from BPD and DD, regular skill training in EI can be successfully implemented and leads to improvements both in EI and depression. Results suggest an additive effect of EI training on both EI and depressive symptoms.     

Concurrent ADHD and bipolar disorder: A 2009 perspective

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) frequently is present concurrently with bipolar disorder (BPD) in youth. This concurrence appears to be more common in younger children. It appears to become less common with increasing age, at least until adulthood. Psychiatric and behavioral symptoms associated with ADHD and BPD have significant overlap. However, the core symptoms of BPD are relatively independent from those of ADHD and can be used to distinguish between the two conditions. The core symptoms of each disorder also respond to different pharmacologic and behavioral strategies. This implies different underlying pathophysiology even when the conditions coexist. Although much symptomatic overlap exists between ADHD and BPD, these conditions can be reliably differentiated from each other and require independent treatments that frequently need to be sequenced.     

Symptômes reliés au diagnostic du trouble de personnalité limite à l’adolescence : une recension systématique de la littérature

The diagnosis of borderline personality disorder (BPD) in adolescence is controversial among some researchers and clinicians. For many, the symptoms presented in young people with BPD resemble normal functioning in adolescence. The diagnosis is then delayed in adulthood, postponing the treatment. The aim of this systematic review of the literature is to investigate the symptoms that can differentiate an adolescent population with BPD from one with another diagnosis and/or without any psychiatric issues. In all, 17 studies out of the 4789 titles initially identified met the inclusion criteria and were analyzed. This systematic review considers diverse symptoms: internalized and externalized disorders, suicide, mentalization errors, maladaptive schemas and comorbid diagnoses. Several symptoms significantly differentiated adolescents with BPD from three control groups teenagers: non-psychiatric, with another personality disorder and with another diagnosis. Finally, a pattern of symptoms could also be observed between suicidal adolescents with BPD and suicidal youth without it.     

Borderline Personality Disorder and Psychosis: A Review

Early views of borderline personality disorder (BPD) were based on the idea that patients with this pathology were “on the border” of psychosis. However, more recent studies have not supported this view, although they have found evidence of a malevolent interpersonal evaluation and a significant proportion of BPD patients showing psychotic symptoms. For example, in one study, 24% of BPD patients reported severe psychotic symptoms and about 75% had dissociative experiences and paranoid ideation. Thus, we start with an overview regarding the prevalence of psychotic symptoms in BPD patients. Furthermore, we report findings of studies investigating the role of comorbidity (eg, post-traumatic stress disorder) in the severity and frequency of psychotic symptoms in BPD patients. We then present results of genetic and neurobiological studies comparing BPD patients with patients with schizophrenia or nonschizophrenic psychotic disorders. In conclusion, this review reveals that psychotic symptoms in BPD patients may not predict the development of a psychotic disorder but are often permanent and severe and need careful consideration by clinicians. Therefore, adequate diagnosis and treatment of psychotic symptoms in BPD patients is emphasized.     

Emotion dysregulation as a maintenance factor of borderline personality disorder features

We examined within-individual changes in emotion dysregulation over the course of one year as a maintenance factor of borderline personality disorder (BPD) features. We evaluated the extent to which (1) BPD symptom severity at baseline predicted within-individual changes in emotion dysregulation and (2) within-individual changes in emotion dysregulation predicted four BPD features at 12-month follow-up: affective instability, identity disturbances, negative relationships, and impulsivity. The specificity of emotion dysregulation as a maintaining mechanism of BPD features was examined by controlling for a competing intervening variable, interpersonal conflict. BPD symptoms at baseline predicted overall level and increasing emotion dysregulation. Additionally, increasing emotion dysregulation predicted all four BPD features at 12-month follow-up after controlling for BPD symptoms at baseline. Further, overall level of emotion dysregulation mediated the association between BPD symptom severity at baseline and both affective instability and identity disturbance at 12-month follow-up, consistent with the notion of emotion dysregulation as a maintenance factor. Future research on the malleability of emotion dysregulation in laboratory paradigms and its effects on short-term changes in BPD features is needed to inform interventions.     

Comparison of Attachment Styles in Borderline Personality Disorder and Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder

The intense, unstable interpersonal relationships characteristic of patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD) are thought to represent insecure attachment. The Reciprocal Attachment Questionnaire was used to compare the attachment styles of patients with BPD to the styles of patients with a contrasting personality disorder, obsessive-compulsive personality disorder (OCPD). The results showed that patients with BPD were more likely to exhibit angry withdrawal and compulsive care-seeking attachment patterns. Patients with BPD also scored higher on the dimensions of lack of availability of the attachment figure, feared loss of the attachment figure, lack of use of the attachment figure, and separation protest. The findings may be relevant for understanding the core interpersonal psychopathology of BPD and for managing therapeutic relationships with these patients.     

Neurotic symptoms of borderline patients: a case review study]

The author investigated neurotic symptoms of borderline patients by reviewing the clinical charts of twenty-six patients of longer than one year treatment period (8 men, 18 women; 23 patients with DSM III-R borderline personality disorder (BPD), 14 with schizotypal personality disorder (SPD), (11 BPD-SPD overlaps); age at the first contact: mean = 24.3 y. o., SD = 6.7 y. o.; treatment period: mean = 51 months, SD = 35 months). The diagnoses of the comorbid neurotic disorders were obsessive compulsive disorder: 5 cases (19% (BPD: 22%, SPD: 7%)), somatoform disorder: 5 (19% (BPD: 22%, SPD: 21%)), panic disorder: 4 (15% (BPD: 17%, SPD: 14%)), social phobia: 2 (8% (BPD: 9%, SPD: 7%)), dissociative disorder: 2 (8% (BPD: 9%, SPD: 0%)), and generalized anxiety disorder: 1 (4% (BPD: 4%, SPD: 7%)). The neurotic symptoms identified in the charts of the subjects were as follows; symptoms of social phobia: 11 cases (42% (BPD: 43%, SPD: 43%)) including 6 with anthropophobic symptoms (23% (BPD: 26%, SPD: 36%)), obsessive compulsive symptoms and diffuse and floating anxiety: 9 (35% (BPD: 39%, SPD: 38%)), panic attacks: 8 (31% (BPD: 35%, SPD: 36%)), conversion symptoms: 7 (27% (BPD: 30%, SPD: 21%)), dissociative episodes: 6 (23% (BPD: 26%, SPD: 7%)), depersonalization: 5 (19% (BPD: 22%, SPD: 14%)), multiple apprehensive expectations: 4 (15% (BPD: 17%, SPD: 14%)), derealization: 3 (12% (BPD: 13%, SPD: 14%)), hyperventilation attacks: 3 (12% (BPD: 13%, SPD: 7%)), and somatization: 1 (4% (BPD: 4%, SPD: 7%)). In short, 54% (BPD: 61%, SPD: 43%) of the subjects had comorbid neurotic disorders, and 92% (BPD: 91%, SPD: 93%) reported at least one, and 54% (BPD: 61%, SPD: 50%), more than two kinds of neurotic symptoms, though no specific symptom correlating with BPD or SPD diagnosis was found. These findings suggest that neurotic symptoms and neurotic disorders cannot be ignored as peripheral in the borderline symptomatology. By analyzing in detail the neurotic experiences, the author pointed out as their characteristics, ego syntonicity, deterioration of reality sense and symptomatic polymorphism, ambiguity and multiplicity (panneurosis). In the symptoms the author observed signs of defective personality functioning such as disavowal of reality, low anxiety tolerance, various forms of identity disturbances. The findings counted above, suggest that the borderline neurotic symptoms are more severe in nature than those of neurotics, and could be situated in between neurotic and psychotic levels of symptomatic severity. The results indicate that the neurotic experiences of borderline patients are, as a whole, deeply ingrained in the borderline psychopathology.     

Brief report: Borderline personality symptoms and perceived caregiver criticism in adolescents

Despite findings of an association between adolescent psychopathology and perceived parental criticism, the relation between adolescent borderline personality disorder (BPD) symptoms and perceived parental criticism has not been examined. Given the centrality of interpersonal sensitivity to BPD (relative to other forms of psychopathology), we hypothesized that adolescent BPD symptoms would be uniquely related to perceived caregiver criticism, above and beyond other forms of psychopathology and general emotion dysregulation. Adolescents (N = 109) in a residential psychiatric treatment facility completed self-report measures of BPD symptoms, perceived caregiver criticism, emotion dysregulation, and symptoms of depression, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress disorder. Results revealed a unique relation of adolescent BPD symptoms to perceived caregiver criticism, above and beyond age, gender, and other forms of psychopathology. Findings suggest that adolescent BPD symptoms may have unique relevance for adolescents' perceptions of caregivers' attitudes and behaviors, increasing the likelihood of negative perceptions.     

Can a subtype of conduct disorder linked to bipolar disorder be identified? Integration of findings from the Massachusetts General Hospital Pediatric Psychopharmacology Research Program.

Our intent was to investigate systematically the overlap between conduct disorder (CD) and bipolar disorder (BPD). We hypothesized that neither CD nor manic symptoms were secondary to the other disorder and that children with the two disorders would have correlates of both. Results from a series of programmatic studies examining phenotypic features of bipolar and conduct disorder alone or combined in probands and relatives were evaluated within and without the context of ADHD. Examination of the clinical features, patterns of psychiatric comorbidity, functioning in multiple domains, and familiality showed that children with CD and BPD had similar features of each disorder irrespective of the comorbidity with the other disorder. Our data suggest that when BPD and CD co-occur in children, both are correctly diagnosed. In these comorbid cases, CD symptoms should not be viewed as secondary to BPD, and manic symptoms should not be viewed as secondary to CD.     

Inhibition errors in borderline personality disorder with psychotic-like symptoms

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to examine whether patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD) have deficits in cognitive inhibition as measured with an anti-saccade eye task similar to patients with schizophrenia (Sz). Furthermore, we investigated whether these inhibition errors were more prominent among BPD patients with psychotic-like symptoms than among BPD patients without these symptoms. METHODS: An anti-saccade task was administered in 32 BPD patients (among them, 20 had with psychotic-like symptoms), 21 patients with recent onset schizophrenia (Sz), and 25 healthy controls (HC). The percentage inhibition errors in the anti-saccade task were the primary outcome variable, in addition, the percentage of anticipatory errors was measured. RESULTS: Sz patients showed more inhibition errors than HC and BPD (p<.001 and p<.05 resp.), whereas BPD patients scored in between Sz and HC. The difference with HC was significant as well (p<.05). BPD patients with psychotic-like symptoms showed more inhibition errors than BPD patients without these symptoms (p<.05). BPD patients showed more anticipatory errors than HC (p<.001), whereas Sz patients did not (p<.26). CONCLUSION: The data demonstrate that inhibition deficits, as measured with anti-saccadic eye movement task, may be characteristic among BPD patients and in a larger extent in patients with psychotic-like symptoms. This inhibition deficit was distinct from a general predisposition to response impulsively as measured by anticipatory errors, which was found in the whole group of BPD patients. Psychotic-like symptoms may be an important target dimension for future BPD research and treatment.     

Psychopharmacologic management of patients with borderline personality disorder

This paper reviews recent literature on the psychopharmacologic management of borderline personality disorder (BPD) patients and discusses an approach to drug therapy. Five randomized controlled trials have shown positive, but non-specific effects of antipsychotic drugs on the symptoms suffered by BPD patients. There were too few data on other types of drugs to draw any conclusion. We propose that BPD patients be treated on the basis of being in a state or episode of co-existing Axis I disorder.     

Relationships between techniques and outcomes for borderline personality disorder

Although a number of psychotherapeutic modalities for borderline personality disorder (BPD) have empirical support, it is unclear what aspects of treatment are responsible for improvement. The present study analyzes the relationships between different techniques and outcomes in a randomized controlled trial of dynamic deconstructive psychotherapy (DDP) for comorbid BPD and alcohol-use disorders. Video recordings of psychotherapy sessions at 3-month intervals were rated to measure therapeutic alliance and the relative frequencies of specific treatment interventions. Outcomes included measures of borderline symptoms, depression, dissociation, social support, alcohol misuse, parasuicide, and institutional care. Discrete sets of techniques were associated with reliable changes in specific outcomes, indicating that treatments for BPD should be tailored to the specific constellation of symptoms presenting in a given individual. The study findings suggest that treatments with a specified set of techniques, such as DDP, dialectical behavior therapy, mentalization-based treatment, schema therapy, supportive therapies, and transference-focused psychotherapy, may be helpful for different individuals, depending on their particular set of symptoms.