title: Childhood trauma in borderline personality disorder.
abstract: Subjects with borderline personality disorder (N = 21) or borderline traits (N = 11) and nonborderline subjects with closely related diagnoses (N = 23) were interviewed in depth regarding experiences of major childhood trauma. Significantly more borderline subjects (81%) gave histories of such trauma, including physical abuse (71%), sexual abuse (68%), and witnessing serious domestic violence (62%); abuse histories were less common in those with borderline traits and least common in the subjects with no borderline diagnosis. These results demonstrate a strong association between a diagnosis of borderline personality disorder and a history of abuse in childhood.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Cambridge Hospital, Mass.
authors.forename: J L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Herman
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Perry
authors.forename: B A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: van der Kolk
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001883:Borderline Personality Disorder / Q000523:psychology*; D002648:Child; D002649:Child Abuse / Q000523:psychology*; D002650:Child Abuse, Sexual / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010554:Personality Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014754:Violence