Is comorbidity of posttraumatic stress disorder and borderline personality disorder related to greater pathology and impairment?
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.
Zlotnick
Caron
C
Butler Hospital, Povidence, RI 02906, USA. caron_zlotnick@brown.edu
Franklin
C Laurel
CL
Zimmerman
Mark
M
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