title: A retrospective chart review: adolescents with borderline personality disorder, borderline personality traits, and controls.
abstract: With an estimated lifetime prevalence as high as 5.9% in the general population, borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a psychiatric disorder characterized by marked impulsivity as well as difficulties in interpersonal relationships, self-image, and affects. The burden on the health care system is immense with BPD patients accounting for 10%-20% of the patients in mental health outpatient facilities and 15%-40% in mental health inpatient facilities. Further, while 75%-80% of BPD patients attempt to commit suicide, 10% succeed; this mortality rate exceeds even that of anorexia nervosa which, with a weighted mortality rate of 5.1%, has often been considered to have the highest mortality rate of any mental disorder. In order to provide treatment and to implement preventative measures, a risk profile as well as clinical features must be identified within the adolescent population. This is presently crucial, as the current criteria for BPD are not developmentally focused, and as a result, criteria initially developed for the adult population are being applied in diagnoses of adolescents. A population of adolescents (n=80) between 16 and 19 years of age meeting the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V) criteria either for BPD traits (n=46) or for BPD (n=36) were included in a retrospective chart review; a control group consisting of n=30 mood and anxiety control subjects were included to allow for further comparisons. Complex significant differences were discovered between the three groups in the following areas: history of sexual abuse, suicidal ideation, internalizing/externalizing symptoms, interpersonal difficulties, impulsivity, pre-perinatal stress, bullying, substance abuse, anxiety disorders, disruptive disorders, and finally, learning disorders.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Queen's University, 99 University Ave Unit 2, Kingston K7L 3N6, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Ellen N
authors.initials: EN
authors.lastname: Jopling
authors.affiliation: Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Sarosh
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Khalid-Khan
authors.affiliation: University of Toronto Faculty of Medicine, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Shivani F
authors.initials: SF
authors.lastname: Chandrakumar
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Shira C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Segal
keywords: borderline personality disorder (BPD); borderline traits; chart review; emotional dysregulation