BORDERLINE PERSONALITY-DISORDER SYMPTOMS AND SEVERITY OF SEXUAL ABUSE

Objective: This study explored the relationship of specific symptoms o f borderline personality disorder to dimensions of severity of sexual abuse experiences in childhood. Method: A group of 41 patients with bo rderline personality disorder who retrospectively reported a childhood history of sexual abuse on the Familial Experiences Interview were st udied. Six items from the Diagnostic Interview for Borderline Patients (DIB) were chosen on the basis of their univariate (chi-square) assoc iation with a sexual abuse severity scale that was developed by the au thors and their research team. These six DIB items were each modeled i n a logistic regression. Predictor variables were the most severe expe rience within each of three dimensions of sexual abuse: 1) perpetrator (sexual abuse by a parent), 2) duration (sexual abuse that was ongoin g), and 3) type (sexual abuse that involved penetration). Results: The severity dimension that was most frequently found to be a significant predictor of the sum of the six DIB items as well as the total scaled DIB score was the duration dimension. Ongoing sexual abuse predicted parasuicidal behavior as well. Conclusions: Ongoing sexual abuse may b e a strong determinant of specific aspects of the disordered interpers onal behavior and functioning found in patients with borderline person ality disorder. The expectation that the world is an empty, malevolent place may have some of its roots in the repetition of sexual abuse ex periences in childhood. This expectation of malevolence among patients with borderline personality disorder may manifest itself in psychothe rapy through regressive and distancing behavior.