A longitudinal study of the 10-year course of interpersonal features in borderline personality disorder.
The literature on borderline personality disorder (BPD) describes interpersonal disturbances as a core sector of psychopathology. The longitudinal course of these features remains poorly understood. Our aim is to describe the course of interpersonal features of BPD in a more detailed way than has been done previously. Twenty interpersonal aspects of borderline psychopathology were assessed using two reliable semi-structured diagnostic interviews at baseline and at five successive two-year follow-up waves in the ongoing McLean Study for Adult Development. Behaviorally-oriented features, such as recurrent breakups, sadism, demandingness, entitlement, regression in treatment, and boundary violations, remitted quickly and were rare at the end of follow-up. The interpersonal features slowest to remit were affective responses to being alone, active caretaking, discomfort with care, and dependency. The behavioral interpersonal features of BPD remit rapidly, while core affectively-oriented features related to intolerance of aloneness and conflicts over dependency are more persistent.
Choi-Kain
Lois W
LW
Laboratory for the Study of Adult Development, McLean Hospital, Belmont, Massachusetts 02478, USA. LCHOIKAIN@PARTNERS.ORG
Zanarini
Mary C
MC
Frankenburg
Frances R
FR
Fitzmaurice
Garrett M
GM
Reich
D Bradford
DB
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001883:Borderline Personality Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology*; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012720:Severity of Illness Index