The longitudinal pattern of suicidal behaviour in borderline personality disorder: a prospective follow-up study.
The aim was to study the longitudinal course of suicidal behaviour and ideation in patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD) compared with patients with other diagnoses. Ninety-seven patients (41 BPD, 33 other personality disorders, 23 no personality disorder) consecutively admitted to a day unit were given a prospective personal interview follow-up with evaluations at admission, discharge and at follow-up after 2-5 years. Even when controlled for Axis I disorders, BPD patients showed significantly more often a lifetime history of suicide attempts. BPD patients with a history of suicide attempts were more suicidal at index admission, continued to be so over the follow-up period and differed systematically in an unfavourable direction from other BPD patients on the major outcome measures. BPD patients without suicidal behaviour had an outcome nearly as good as non-BPD patients, and only 41% of them retained the BPD diagnosis at follow-up. Suicidal behaviour and ideation are highly prevalent in BPD. These suicidal expressions are of an enduring nature and seem as a diagnostic criterion to enhance the predictive capacity of the BPD diagnosis.
Department Group of Psychiatry, University of Oslo, Norway.
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L
Mehlum
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S
Friis
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P
Vaglum
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S
Karterud
D000328:Adult; D001883:Borderline Personality Disorder / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009664:Norway / Q000453:epidemiology; D010552:Personality Assessment; D010554:Personality Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D011446:Prospective Studies; D013405:Suicide / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013406:Suicide, Attempted / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*