Long-Term Course of Borderline Personality Disorder: A Prospective 10-Year Follow-Up Study

• Published in: Journal of personality disorders Vol. 31; no. 5; pp. 590 - 605
• Main Authors: Alvarez-Tomás, Irene, Soler, Joaquim, Bados, Arturo, Martín-Blanco, Ana, Elices, Matilde, Carmona, Cristina, Bauzà, Joana, Pascual, Juan Carlos
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Guilford Press 01.10.2017
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Adult Development; Borderline personality disorder; Borderline Personality Disorder - psychology; Clinical Psychology; Comorbidity; Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; Female; Follow-Up Studies; Followup Studies; Humans; Interpersonal Relationship; Longitudinal Studies; Male; Mental Disorders; Middle Aged; Modeling (Psychology); Patients; Personality disorders; Personality Problems; Personality Traits; Prospective Studies; Psychiatry; Psychological Evaluation; Psychotherapy; Quantitative psychology; Schizophrenia; Social psychology; Suicide; Suicides & suicide attempts; Symptoms (Individual Disorders); Time Factors; Young Adult
• ISSN: 0885-579X; 1943-2763
• DOI: 10.1521/pedi_2016_30_269

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.