Interesting borderline personality disorder facts

Borderline personality disorder facts.

Borderline personality disorder facts.


Interesting borderline personality disorder facts are hard to find these days. Despite the fact that a lot of research has been done on the most common personality disorder, little is known about its prevalence, comorbidity, and risk factors. What makes finding trustworthy data even more challenging is the fact that some studies use different questionnaires to diagnose borderline personality disorder.
 
Fortunately, recently studies have been focusing on its prevalence, co-morbidity, and disability rates. For the borderline personality disorder facts presented on this page scientific articles have been used. Every now and then this article will be updated with new borderline personality disorder facts.
 

 
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Borderline personality disorder facts – United States.

Please note: Study [1] used a different way of diagnosing borderline personality disorder. So please interpret its borderline personality disorder facts with caution.

  • Between 0.5 and 5.9% of people in the United Stated have borderline personality disorder (BPD) at least once in their lives. The 5.9% is an outlier and a likely explanation could be the fact that a newly developed, not validated questionnaire had been used. Average prevalence worldwide: between 0.5% and 1.7% [1],[6],[11].
  • One study ([1]) reports: 5.6% of men and 6.2% of women have BPD at least once in their lives. This difference is not significant, which suggests that men are as likely as women to develop BPD. However, this percentage is 3 times higher than the average found in other studies [1],[11].
  • Young adults (both men and women) more often have BPD compared to older adults: 20-29 y/o (9.3%), followed by 30-44 y/o (6.7%), 45-64 (5.5%), and 65+ (2.0%) [1]. (Be careful when interpreting this data)
  • Native Americans more often have BPD: 11.9%, compared to Hispanics (5.3%). The BPD rates for Asians, Whites, and Blacks were in between those of Native Americans and Hispanics, but not significant [1]. (Be careful when interpreting this data)

 

  • BPD is more common among people with an income between 0-19,999 US$ (9.8%) compared to the people in income groups 20,000-34,999 US$ (7.4%), 35,000-69,999 US$ (5.2%), and 70,000 or more (3.1%) [1]. (This fact is supported by other research ([10]) where researchers found that the majority of people with BPS are employed.)
  • BPD is more common among people who are separated, divorced or widowed (8.4%) compared to those who are married/cohabiting (4.4%) people [1].
  • People with less than high school education were more likely to have BPD than those with high school education: 8.0% vs. 6.8% [1].
  • People with lifetime BPD have greater disability compared to those without BPD. Women have greater disability than men [1].
  • Men with BPD seem to manifest impulsiveness through externalizing disorders [1].

 
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Borderline personality disorder facts – Norway.

  • In Norway 0.7% of people have BPD at least once in their lives [4].
  • There is no significant difference between men and women in regard to borderline personality disorder in Norway [4].
  • People aged 30-39 more often have BPD followed by the age groups 18-29, 50-65, and 40-49 [4].
  • More than twice as many people with BPD live outside the city [4].

 
 

Borderline personality disorder facts – UK.

  • In the UK between 0.7% and 1.3% of people in the UK have BPD at least once in their lives [5],[10].
  • Men are as likely as women to develop borderline personality disorder in the UK [5],[10].
  • Men with BPD reach out for professional help as often as women do [10].
  • In the UK, more than 40% of the household people did not have contact with their general practitioner or a mental health professional in the past 12 months [10].
  • People with BPD seem to function more effectively in the community compared to people with other mental disorders. More than to third were employed, and many attempted to purchase their own house or rented one [10].

 
 

Borderline personality disorder facts – Suicide.

  • Approximately 75% of the people with borderline personality disorder attempt suicide [7].
  • 10% of the people with BPD complete suicide [7].
  • Most suicides occur before the age of 40 [8].
  • Suffering from substance abuse or major depressive disorder next to BPD increases both the seriousness and number of suicide attempts [7].
  • A history of childhood sexual abuse and BPD increases the number of suicide attempts compared to no history of childhood sexual abuse [9].

 
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Borderline personality disorder facts – Comorbidity.

  • A high percentage of people with borderline personality disorder continue to suffer from episodes of AXIS I disorders over time, even after 6 years [12].
  • Of those people whose BPD remitted over the course of 6 years, rates of mood disorders decreased from 98% to 70%, substance use disorders from 61% to 12%, PTSD from 53% to 23%, other anxiety disorders from 88% to 50%, and eating disorders from 55% to 26% [12].
  • Of those whose BPD did not remit over the course of 6 years the AXIS I disorder rates remained approximately the same [12].
  • The biggest predictor of a remission for BPD is the absence of a substance abuse disorder [12].

 

  • Of those people with BPD 75% met criteria for a mood disorder 6 years after index admission (for BPD). 61% of those with BPD met criteria for major depression, 41% for dysthymia [12].
  • Of those people with BPD 60% met criteria for an anxiety disorder 6 years after index admission (for BPD). 29% of those with BPD met criteria for panic disorder, 35% for PTSD [12].
  • Of those people with BPD 34% met criteria for an eating disorder and 19% for a substance use disorder 6 years after index admission (for BPD). 28% of those with BPD met criteria for eating disorder NOS [12].
  • 5 to 6 years after index admission over 70% of the people with BPD continued with psychotherapy and at least one type of medication (50% even two types of medication) [12].

 
 

Borderline personality disorder facts – treatment effectiveness.

  • Schema focused therapy (SFT) is more effective than psychodynamically based transference-focused psychotherapy (TFP) in reducing BPD symptoms, drop-out rates (are lower), and changing the personality of the patients [2].
  • Regarding improving the quality of life schema focused therapy and TFP are equally effective [2].
  • Both Schema focused therapy and TFP are effective in treating BPD [2].
  • Dialectical Behavioural Therapy (DBT) is significantly more effective than usual treatment in reducing high-risk behaviours in patients with BPD [3].
  • Most people with BPD take antidepressant medication (67%), followed by anxiolytic (28%), antipsychotic (27%), and 22% a mood stabilizer [12].

 
 

Literature used for this article

  • [1] Grant, B. F., et al., 2009. Prevalence, correlates, disability, and comorbidity of DSM-IV borderline personality disorder: results from the wave 2 national epidemiologic survey on alcohol and related conditions. J Clin Psychiatry, 69, 533-545.
  • [2] Giesen-Bloo, J., van Dyck, R., Spinhoven, P., van Tilburg, W., Dirksen, C., van Asselt, T., Kremers, I., Nadort, M., & Arntz, A., 2006. Outpatient psychotherapy for borderline personality disorder randomized trial of schema-focused therapy vs transference-focused psychotherapy. Arch Gen Psychiatry, 63, 649-658.
  • [3] Verheul, R., Van Den Bosch, L. M. C., Koeter, M. W. J., De Ridder, M. A. J., Stijnen, T., & Van Den Brink, W., 2003. Dialectical behaviour therapy for women with borderline personality disorder
    12-month, randomised clinical trial in The Netherlands. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 182, 135-140.
  • [4] Torgersen, S., Kringlen, E., Cramer, V., 2001. The prevalence of personality disorders in a community sample. Archives of Internal Medicine, 58, 590–596.
  • [5] Coid, J., Yang, M., Tyrer, P., et al., 2006. Prevalence and correlates of personality disorder in Great Britain. British Journal of Psychiatry, 188, 423–431.
  • [6] Samuels, J., Eaton, W. W., Bienvenu, O. J., Brown, C. H., Costa, P. T., & Nestadt, G., 2002. Prevalence and correlates of personality disorders in a community sample. The British Journal of Psychiatry , 180, 536-542.
  • [7] Black, D. W., Blum, N., Pfohl, B., & Hale, N., 2004. Suicidal behaviour in borderline personality disorder: prevalence, risk factors, prediction, and prevention. Journal of Personality Disorders, 18, 226-239.
  • [8] Paris, J., and Zweig-Frank, H., 2007. A 27-year follow-up of patients with borderline personality disorder. Comprehensive Psychiatry, 42, 482-487.
  • [9] Soloff, P. H., Lynch, K. G., & Kelly, T. M., 2002. Childhood abuse as a risk factor for suicidal behaviour in borderline personality disorder. Journal of Personality Disorders, 16, 201-214.
  • [10] Coid, J., Yang, M., Bebbington, P., Moran, P., Brugha, T., Jenkins, R., Farrell, M., Singleton, N., & Ullrich, S., 2009. Borderline personality disorder: health service use and social functioning 
    among a national household population. Psychological Medicine, 39, 1721-1731.
  • [11] Lenzenweger, M.F., Lane, M.C., Loranger, A.W., & Kessler, R.C., 2007. DSM-IV personality disorders in the National Comorbidity Survey Replication. Biological Psychiatry, 62, 553–564.
  • [12] Zanarini, M. C., Frankenburg, F. R., Hennen, J., Reich, D. B., & Silk, K. R., 2004. Axis I comorbidity in patients with borderline personality disorder: 6-year follow-up and prediction of time to remission. Am J Psychiatry, 161, 2108-2114.