The Longitudinal Course of Borderline Personality Disorder

Christina M Temes; Mary C Zanarini

doi:10.1016/j.psc.2018.07.002

The Longitudinal Course of Borderline Personality Disorder

Psychiatr Clin North Am. 2018 Dec;41(4):685-694. doi: 10.1016/j.psc.2018.07.002. Epub 2018 Oct 16.

Authors

Christina M Temes¹, Mary C Zanarini²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychiatry, McLean Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 115 Mill Street, Belmont, MA 02478, USA. Electronic address: ctemes@mclean.harvard.edu.
² Department of Psychiatry, McLean Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 115 Mill Street, Belmont, MA 02478, USA.

PMID: 30447732
DOI: 10.1016/j.psc.2018.07.002

Abstract

Findings from decades of longitudinal research have challenged the long-held notion that borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a chronically disabling condition. Instead, several prospective, long-term follow-up studies have found that most patients with BPD experience a remission from the disorder, and many experience a full recovery over the course of their lives. These studies also indicate that symptoms of BPD wax and wane over time, although more acute, behavioral symptoms of the disorder tend to remit rapidly and recur rarely. Further, findings regarding predictors of good and poor outcomes in BPD could influence further developments in treatments for the disorder.

Keywords: Borderline personality disorder; Course; Longitudinal research; Recovery; Remission.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Borderline Personality Disorder / diagnosis
Borderline Personality Disorder / psychology*
Borderline Personality Disorder / therapy*
Humans
Longitudinal Studies
Prospective Studies
Recurrence