A family study of outpatients with borderline personality disorder and no history of mood disorder

While several studies have examined psychiatric disorders in the relatives of individuals with borderline personality disorder, many of these studies have not employed a family study methodology and suffer from other methodol ogical shortcomings, Thus, the conclusions from family data addressing the validity of borderline personality disorder, its relation to other conditio ns, and its distinction from mood disorders, continue to be debated, The pr esent investigation employed a family study design with direct interviews w ith relatives, structured diagnostic interviews with both probands and rela tives, and blind assessment of relatives. Rates of psychiatric disorders we re examined in 563 relatives of outpatients with mood disorders (n = 119), 54 relatives of outpatients with borderline personality disorder and no his tory of mood disorder (n = 11), and 229 relatives of never psychiatrically ill controls (n = 45), Results indicate increased rates of mood disorders a nd personality disorders in the relatives of borderline probands compared w ith never psychiatrically ill controls, Familial aggregation of psychiatric disorders was generally similar for borderline personality and the mood di sorder comparison group, The results suggest: there may be common etiologic al factors between borderline personality disorder and mood disorders.