Impulsive clinical profile of Borderline Personality Disorder with comorbid Substance Use Disorder

Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is one of the Personality Disorder most frequently associated with Substance Use Disorder (SUD). According to different models, the Behavioral dysregulation-BPD subgroup has a higher prevalence of SUD and certain impulsivity behaviors than the other two subgroups.

Out of 156 BPD patients, 47 were in the Behavioral dysregulation-BPD subgroup, 55 in Affective dysregulation, and 54 in Disturbed relatedness. All patients completed the SCID-II for DSM-IV Axis II Disorders, SCID-I for DSM-IV Axis I Disorders, Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (BIS-11) and Revised Diagnostic Interview for Borderlines (DIB-R).

In the comparison of the BPD subgroups, Behavioral dysregulation showed significantly more prevalence of SUD (alcohol and cocaine), and tendency for anxiolytics, higher impulsivity (DIB-R, but none in BIS-11), and higher number of suicide attempts and psychiatric admissions, although these was not significant in comparison with the other subgroups.

This should be especially useful in the discrimination of BPD patients for different therapeutic approaches and prognoses.