Suicide Attempts and Borderline Personality Disorder Symptomatology in a Cardiac Stress Test Population

[摘要] According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, Text Revision (DSM-IV-TR), suicidal behavior, gestures, and/or threats are characteristic features of borderline personality disorder (BPD). However, some research suggests the possibility of different symptom manifestations of BPD as a function of treatment setting.1 If so, then suicide attempts might not be associated with BPD in such patients from various medical settings. As for previous work in this area, in a sample of gastric surgery candidates, we found that those with suicide attempts were approximately four times more likely to evidence BPD than those without such histories.2 In addition, data indicate that patients with BPD develop reasonably high rates of medical problems over time, suggesting drift of BPD patients from psychiatric settings into medical settings,3,4 thereby enhancing the relationship between suicide attempts and BPD in a medical population. In this study, we examined the relationship between suicide attempts and BPD symptomatology in a sample of cardiac-stress-test patients to determine if this clinical feature of BPD transcends the psychiatric setting.

[学科分类] 精神健康和精神病学