Autobiographical memory and parasuicide in borderline personality disorder

Background. Several studies have found that parasuicidal patients are poor at recalling specific autobiographical memories when tested with the word-c ueing paradigm and two studies have reported some evidence that over-genera l recall is a risk factor for repetition of parasuicide. The aim of the pre sent study was to test whether this association could be replicated with a sample of patients suffering from borderline personality disorder (BPD). Method. Twenty-three patients with BPD completed a version of the Autobiogr aphical Memory Test (AMT) and self-report measures of depression, anxiety a nd trait anger. In a structured interview, they also reported the number of times they had engaged in parasuicidal acts during the previous 4 months. Results. The number of general memories produced on the AMT made a signific ant contribution ro the prediction of the frequency of parasuicidal acts in a multiple regression analysis bur thr partial correlation in the final eq uation was negative. That is, chose who showed greatest over-general recall reported fewest parasuicidal acts. Anxiety and depression, but not trait a nger, also made significant independent contributions to the prediction of parasuicide. Conclusion. Over-general autobiographical recall may hell, to protect borde rline individuals from parasuicidal acts by helping them to avoid distressi ng memories.