title: An investigation of organic factors in the neuropsychological functioning of patients with borderline personality disorder.
abstract: The hypothesis to be tested in this study was that the cognitive deficits that have been documented in patients with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) are largely the consequence of organic insult, either developmental or acquired. Using a cross-sectional design, 80 subjects (males and females) who met the criteria for BPD participated in the study. They completed a battery of neuropsychological tests and a comprehensive interview assessing organic status as well as measures of the potentially confounding factors of current levels of depression and anxiety. It was expected that BPD-patients with a probable history of organic insult would perform significantly worse than would BPD patients without such a history. Analyses of the results provided partial support for the hypothesis. Subjects with both BPD and a history of organic insult were significantly more impaired on several measures including measures of attention than were BPD only subjects. The results suggested that the impaired cognitive performance of persons diagnosed with BPD may, in part, be attributed to organic factors.
authors.affiliation: Betty Byrne Henderson Women's Health Research Centre, Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital, Australia. traversc@psychiatry.uq.edu.au
authors.forename: Catherine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Travers
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: King
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001007:Anxiety / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D001883:Borderline Personality Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D001925:Brain Damage, Chronic / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D015897:Comorbidity; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003863:Depression / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011594:Psychometrics; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D014888:Wechsler Scales / Q000706:statistics & numerical data