Citation

Alvarez-Tomás I, Soler J, Bados A, Martín-Blanco A, Elices M, Carmona C, Bauzà J, Pascual JC. J. Personal. Disord. 2016; 31(5): 590-605.

Affiliation

Department of Psychiatry, Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Salud Mental (CIBER-SAM), Institut d'Investigació Biomèdica-Sant Pau (IIB-Sant Pau), and Psychiatry and Legal Medicine and Clinical Psychology and Health Departments, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2016, Guilford Publications)

DOI

10.1521/pedi_2016_30_269

PMID

27749187

Abstract

The aim of this prospective study was to expand previously reported evidence on the 10-year clinical and functional course of borderline personality disorder (BPD) in a Spanish sample. Participants diagnosed with BPD were assessed at baseline and at 10-year follow-up to evaluate BPD symptomatology and other relevant clinical measures, suicidal behavior, dimensional personality traits, Axis I and II comorbidity, use of mental health resources, and psychosocial functioning. At the 10-year follow up, significant improvements were observed on BPD domains, suicidal behavior, and other clinical measures. Neuroticism, impulsiveness, and aggression-hostility features trended toward normalization, whereas activity and sociability were impaired over time. Comorbidity with Axis I and personality disorders remained high. Social functioning and occupational functioning were largely unchanged. These findings confirm the tendency toward a symptomatic remission of BPD over the long term with regard to symptom criteria and characteristic dimensional traits. However, psychosocial functioning remains impaired.

Language: en