Moving Toward Connectedness – A Qualitative Study of Recovery Processes for People With Borderline Personality Disorder

Borderline personality disorder is characterised by a pervasive pattern of instability in affect regulation, impulse control, interpersonal relationships, and self-image. Clinical signs of the disorder include emotional dysregulation, impulsive aggression, repeated self-injury, and chronic suicidal tendencies, which make these patients frequent users of mental-health resources. Causal factors are only partly known, but genetic factors and adverse events during childhood, such as physical and sexual abuse, contribute to the development of the disorder. Dialectical behaviour therapy and psychodynamic partial hospital programmes are effective treatments for out-of-control patients, and drug therapy can reduce depression, anxiety, and impulsive aggression. More research is needed for the understanding and management of this disabling clinical condition. Current strategies are focusing on the neurobiological underpinnings of the disorder and the development and dissemination of better and more cost-effective treatments to clinicians.

At present, the most frequently investigated psychosocial intervention for borderline personality disorder (BPD) is dialectical behavior therapy (DBT). We conducted a meta-analysis to examine the efficacy and long-term effectiveness of DBT. Systematic bibliographic research was undertaken to find relevant literature from online databases (PubMed, PsycINFO, PsychSpider, Medline). We excluded studies in which patients with diagnoses other than BPD were treated, the treatment did not comprise all components specified in the DBT manual or in the suggestions for inpatient DBT programs, patients failed to be diagnosed according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, and the intervention group comprised fewer than 10 patients. Using a mixed-effect hierarchical modeling approach, we calculated global effect sizes and effect sizes for suicidal and self-injurious behaviors. Calculations of postintervention global effect sizes were based on 16 studies. Of these, 8 were randomized controlled trials (RCTs), and 8 were neither randomized nor controlled (nRCT). The dropout rate was 27.3% pre- to posttreatment. A moderate global effect and a moderate effect size for suicidal and self-injurious behaviors were found, when including a moderator for RCTs with borderline-specific treatments. There was no evidence for the influence of other moderators (e.g., quality of studies, setting, duration of intervention). A small impairment was shown from posttreatment to follow-up, including 5 RCTs only. Future research should compare DBT with other active borderline-specific treatments that have also demonstrated their efficacy using several long-term follow-up assessment points. (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved.

This national epidemiologic survey describes trends in recent suicide attempts among adults in the United States. Questions Has a national increase in suicide attempts occurred in the United States in the decade since wave 2 of the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions? Finding In this national epidemiologic survey of 69 341 US adults, the percentage making a recent suicide attempt increased from 0.62% in 2004 through 2005 to 0.79% in 2012 through 2013. The adjusted risk differences for suicide attempts were significantly larger among adults aged 21 to 34 years than among adults aged 65 years or older; adults with no more than a high school education than among college graduates; and adults with antisocial personality disorder, a history of violent behavior, anxiety disorders, or depressive disorders than among adults without these conditions. Meaning A recent overall increase in suicide attempts among US adults has disproportionately affected younger adults with less formal education and those with antisocial personality disorder, anxiety disorders, depressive disorders, and a history of violence. Importance A recent increase in suicide in the United States has raised public and clinical interest in determining whether a coincident national increase in suicide attempts has occurred and in characterizing trends in suicide attempts among sociodemographic and clinical groups. Objective To describe trends in recent suicide attempts in the United States. Design, Setting, and Participants Data came from the 2004-2005 wave 2 National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC) and the 2012-2013 NESARC-III. These nationally representative surveys asked identical questions to 69 341 adults, 21 years and older, concerning the occurrence and timing of suicide attempts. Risk differences adjusted for age, sex, and race/ethnicity (ARDs) assessed trends from the 2004-2005 to 2012-2013 surveys in suicide attempts across sociodemographic and psychiatric disorder strata. Additive interactions tests compared the magnitude of trends in prevalence of suicide attempts across levels of sociodemographic and psychiatric disorder groups. The analyses were performed from February 8, 2017, through May 31, 2017. Main Outcomes and Measures Self-reported attempted suicide in the 3 years before the interview. Results With use of data from the 69 341 participants (42.8% men and 57.2% women; mean [SD] age, 48.1 [17.2] years), the weighted percentage of US adults making a recent suicide attempt increased from 0.62% in 2004-2005 (221 of 34 629) to 0.79% in 2012-2013 (305 of 34 712; ARD, 0.17%; 95% CI, 0.01%-0.33%; P  = .04). In both surveys, most adults with recent suicide attempts were female (2004-2005, 60.17%; 2012-2013, 60.94%) and younger than 50 years (2004-2005, 84.75%; 2012-2013, 80.38%). The ARD for suicide attempts was significantly larger among adults aged 21 to 34 years (0.48%; 95% CI, 0.09% to 0.87%) than among adults 65 years and older (0.06%; 95% CI, −0.02% to 0.14%; interaction P  = .04). The ARD for suicide attempts was also significantly larger among adults with no more than a high school education (0.49%; 95% CI, 0.18% to 0.80%) than among college graduates (0.03%; 95% CI, −0.17% to 0.23%; interaction P  = .003); the ARD was also significantly larger among adults with antisocial personality disorder (2.16% [95% CI, 0.61% to 3.71%] vs 0.07% [95% CI, −0.09% to 0.23%]; interaction P  = .01), a history of violent behavior (1.04% [95% CI, 0.35% to 1.73%] vs 0.00% [95% CI, −0.12% to 0.12%]; interaction P  = .003), or a history of anxiety (1.43% [95% CI, 0.47% to 2.39%] vs 0.18% [95% CI, 0.04% to 0.32%]; interaction P  = .01) or depressive (0.99% [95% CI, −0.09% to 2.07%] vs −0.08% [95% CI, −0.20% to 0.04%]; interaction P  = .05) disorders than among adults without these conditions. Conclusions and Relevance A recent overall increase in suicide attempts among adults in the United States has disproportionately affected younger adults with less formal education and those with antisocial personality disorder, anxiety disorders, depressive disorders, and a history of violence.