CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 115Personality Disorders and PsychopathologyPosttraumatic Stress Disorder ResearchPsychoanalysis and Psychopathology Research

Comorbidity between Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Borderline Personality Disorder: A Review

Frías, Álvaro, Palma, Carol·2015·Psychopathology
DOI 10.1159/000363145
Open this paper in CoChat — free account

Abstract

Background: Traditionally, the presence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in subjects diagnosed with borderline personality disorder (BPD) has been the object of scant empirical research. The clarification of issues related to the different areas of study for this comorbidity is not only significant from a theoretical point of view but also relevant for clinical practice. The aim of this review is to describe the main theoretical findings and research conclusions about the comorbidity between PTSD and BPD. Methods: A literature review was carried out via PubMed and PsycINFO for the period between 1990 and September 2013. The descriptors used were ‘post-traumatic stress disorder', ‘borderline personality disorder', ‘PTSD', ‘complex PTSD' and ‘BPD'. Results: Epidemiological studies show that the risk of PTSD among BPD subjects is not regularly higher than in subjects with other personality disorders. Furthermore, there is no conclusive evidence about the main aetiopathogenic mechanism of this comorbidity, either of one disorder being a risk factor for the other one or of common underlying variables. Concerning comparative studies, several studies with PTSD-BPD subjects have found a higher severity of psychopathology and psychosocial impairment than in BPD subjects. With regard to nosological status, the main focus of controversy is the validation of ‘complex PTSD', a clinical entity which may comprise a subgroup of PTSD-BPD subjects. With regard to treatment, there are preliminary evidences for the efficient treatment of psychopathology in both PTSD and BPD. Conclusions: These findings are remarkable for furthering the understanding of the link between PTSD and BPD and their implications for treatment. The results of this review are discussed, including methodological constraints that hinder external validity and consistency of referred findings.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1159/000363145

Cites

82 of 82 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Recomputing p-values needs the paper’s full text.

Claims the paper makes

This paper’s full text isn’t openly available, so its claims and self-check weren’t run. The registry and citation checks still apply.

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • 30-70% of adults diagnosed with BPD had an episode of PTSD at some point in their lifetime.

    “30–70% of adults diagnosed with BPD had an episode of PTSD at some point in their lifetime [50]”

    From Complex PTSD and borderline personality disorder (2021) · cites this paper as [50]

  • PTSD and BPD often occur comorbidly.

    “PTSD and BPD often occur comorbidly.”

    From Complex PTSD and borderline personality disorder (2021) · cites this paper as [50]

  • In nationally representative samples in the United States, 25-30% of adults meeting criteria for either PTSD or BPD also met criteria for the other disorder.

    “In nationally representative samples in the United States, 25–30% of adults meeting criteria for either PTSD or BPD also met criteria for the other disorder”

    From Complex PTSD and borderline personality disorder (2021) · cites this paper as [50]

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Related

Authors
Frías, Á., & Palma, C.
Affiliations
Universitat Ramon Llull (ES)
ORCID
Frías, Álvaro
Venue
Psychopathology
Publisher
S. Karger AG
Published
2014-09-09
Volume
48
Issue
1
Pages
1-10
ISSN
  • 0254-4962 (ISSN-L)
  • 1423-033X
DOI
10.1159/000363145
OpenAlex
W2068470537
Cited by
114
References
82
Citations by year
2026: 11 · 2025: 10 · 2024: 18 · 2023: 9 · 2022: 10 · 2021: 13 · 2020: 11 · 2019: 7 · 2018: 8 · 2017: 6 · 2016: 7 · 2015: 3
FWCI
0.81
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Licence
Locations
  • Psychopathology (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Personality Disorders and Psychopathology
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Research
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychoanalysis and Psychopathology Research
Keywords
post-traumatic stress disorder, borderline personality disorder, comorbidities, complex PTSD, psychopathology severity, psychosocial impairment
MeSH terms
Borderline Personality Disorder, Humans, Risk Factors, Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review