Childhood trauma and Borderline Personality Disorder

The main purpose of this study was to explore the possibility that childhood trauma experiences contribute to the development of Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). Incidents of childhood trauma were explored with individuals who were diagnosed with BPD and compared to trauma experiences of individuals diagnosed with Bipolar Affective Disorder. Interviews were conducted with 18 borderline and 19 bipolar subjects to explore the areas of physical abuse, sexual abuse, and witness to domestic violence. Significantly more subjects with BPD reported histories of physical abuse (64.7%), sexual abuse (72.2%), or one or more of the three areas of trauma (88.9%) explored. Domestic violence by itself was not found to be significant for the borderline subjects. Overall, trauma histories were not as common in the bipolar subjects. Results of this study indicate a strong relationship between certain types of childhood trauma and a diagnosis of borderline personality disorder.