Borderline personality disorder: does its clinical features show specificity to differing developmental risk factors?

OBJECTIVES: To determine if differing developmental factors show specificity to differing manifestations of borderline personality disorder (BPD).

METHODS: A clinical sample of 73 females diagnosed with BPD undertook a psychiatrist interview and completed self-report questionnaires, including the semi-structured Diagnostic Interview for DSM-IV Personality Disorders (DIPD-IV) assessing for BPD status. A set of negative and potentially traumatic developmental factors were included in the assessment.

RESULTS: Childhood sexual abuse, affirmed by 49% of the sample, showed specificity in being linked with DIPD-defined affective instability. DIPD-defined identity disturbance also showed specificity in being associated only with reporting significant non-sexual developmental trauma. DIPD-defined anger and paranoia/dissociation showed minimal specificity and were associated with most antecedent developmental factors in adulthood.

CONCLUSIONS: Differing manifestations of BPD are likely to be shaped by specific and non-specific developmental events. Clarification of such links has the potential to shape more specific therapeutic interventions.