Depression in Patients with Borderline Personality Disorder
Abstract
Borderline personality disorder (BPD) and major depressive disorder (MDD) commonly co-occur, but the relationship between these disorders remains unclear. While BPD patients often suffer from depression, their subjective experience and treatment response are different from that experienced by MDD patients without BPD. Surveying the current literature on the interface of these two pathologies, we find that depression in BPD has distinct symptoms, treatment responses, remission predictors, and suicide risks. It tends to be subjectively more severe, more interpersonally fueled, and more persistent than MDD without BPD. BPD depression responds less well to biological treatments and may be fueled by the neurobiology of BPD. These findings suggest that clinicians should recognize the unique features of BPD depression and anticipate a clinical trajectory that may be different from MDD without BPD, keeping in mind that BPD depression tends not to improve until BPD improves.
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MDD was associated with other psychiatric disorders, especially generalized anxiety disorder and borderline personality disorder.
“Major depressive disorder was associated with other psychiatric disorders, especially generalized anxiety disorder and borderline personality disorder, associations found in previous studies.5,[46][47][48][49]”
From Epidemiology of Adult <i>DSM-5</i> Major Depressive Disorder and Its Specifiers in the United States (2018) · cites this paper as [46]
The finding that almost three-quarters of those with MDD had the anxious/distressed specifier confirms clinical observation and research.
“That almost three-quarters of those with MDD had the anxious/ distressed specifier confirms clinical observation and research.46”
From Epidemiology of Adult <i>DSM-5</i> Major Depressive Disorder and Its Specifiers in the United States (2018) · cites this paper as [46]
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Epidemiology of Adult <i>DSM-5</i> Major Depressive Disorder and Its Specifiers in the United States
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- Authors
- Yoshimatsu, K., & Palmer, B.
- Affiliations
- Mayo Clinic (US)
- Corresponding author
- Yoshimatsu, Kei
- Palmer, Brian
- ORCID
- Palmer, Brian
- Venue
- Harvard Review of Psychiatry
- Published
- 2014-09
- Volume
- 22
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 266-273
- ISSN
- 1067-3229 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2054926491
- Cited by
- 57
- References
- 13
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 6 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 6 · 2017: 4 · 2016: 4 · 2015: 2 · 2013: 1
- FWCI
- 0.50
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Harvard Review of Psychiatry (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Personality Disorders and Psychopathology
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Bipolar Disorder and Treatment
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pharmacology › Treatment of Major Depression
- Keywords
- borderline personality disorder, depression, major depressive disorder, comorbidities, treatment response, predictors of remission, suicide risk, clinical trajectories
- MeSH terms
- Borderline Personality Disorder, Depressive Disorder, Major, Major Depressive Disorder, Humans, Comorbidity
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