Childhood abuse, mental healthcare utilization, self-harm behavior, and multiple psychiatric diagnoses among inpatients with and without a borderline diagnosis

Although borderline personality disorder (BPD) has defined diagnostic criteria, a number of other clinical features are associated with this diagnosis. These features may include childhood histories of abuse (eg, sexual, physical, and emotional abuse; the witnessing of violence), high mental healthcare utilization, self-harm behavior, and polysymptomatic presentations that result in multiple Axis I diagnoses. Although each of these variables has been described in the empirical literature, only 1 other study has explored all 4 of these variables in a single study population--the Collaborative Longitudinal Personality Disorders Study. Using clinical diagnoses and self-report surveys, we explored these variables among psychiatric inpatients in a community hospital. We found that, compared with patients with no BPD, those with BPD reported significantly more types of childhood trauma, higher utilization of particular mental health services (ie, number of times and days of hospitalization for mental health or substance abuse, number of psychiatrists and therapists ever seen, number of courses of psychotherapy treatment), and a higher number of self-harm behaviors. Although not significant, there were positive trends for the remaining variables. The authors discuss the implications of these findings as they relate to patients with BPD.