Gender aspects in the planning of psychotherapy for borderline personality disorder

The aim of the study was to generate hypotheses for examining gender-specific variables with predictive value for the planning of successful psychotherapy in patients with borderline personality disorder.

Anxiety, aggression, interpersonal problems, locus of control and self-concept were investigated in twenty psychiatric inpatients before and after psychoanalytically oriented psychotherapy lasting for six weeks.

Women in gender-matched patient-therapist dyads gained insight into relationships between anxiety, aggression and interpersonal problems to the extent that they experienced them as ego-syntonic problems and as a concern of their own self-concept, and were therefore able to engage in further outpatient psychotherapy. Men more often remained in regressive resistance and in narcissistically boosted conviction of self-efficacy, with simultaneous persistence of aggression and non-engagement in further psychotherapy.

The results underline the importance of considering gender role stereotypes and suggest the significance of gender-sensitive attitudes in dealing with aggression and exploring attachment styles and reflective functioning.