title: Is comorbidity of posttraumatic stress disorder and borderline personality disorder related to greater pathology and impairment?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The authors examined whether patients with comorbid borderline personality disorder and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) have a more severe clinical profile than patients with either disorder without the other.
  
  
  METHODS
  Outpatients with borderline personality disorder without PTSD (N=101), PTSD without borderline personality disorder (N=121), comorbid borderline personality disorder and PTSD (N=48), and major depression without PTSD or borderline personality disorder (N=469) were assessed with structured interviews for psychiatric disorders and for degree of impairment.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Outpatients with diagnoses of comorbid borderline personality disorder and PTSD were not significantly different from outpatients with borderline personality disorder without PTSD, PTSD without borderline personality disorder, or major depression without PTSD or borderline personality disorder in severity of PTSD-related symptoms, borderline-related traits, or impairment.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The additional diagnosis of PTSD or borderline personality disorder does little to augment the pathology or dysfunction of patients who have either disorder without the other.
authors.affiliation: Butler Hospital, Povidence, RI 02906, USA. caron_zlotnick@brown.edu
authors.forename: Caron
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zlotnick
authors.forename: C Laurel
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Franklin
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zimmerman
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001883:Borderline Personality Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D015897:Comorbidity; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007406:Interview, Psychological; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology