Alexithymia and self-harm in people with borderline personality disorder

Abstract

To estimate the prevalence of alexithymia and self-harm in patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD). To assess the role of alexithymia in the emergence of self-harm in patients with BPD. We studied 104 patients (85 women, 19 men aged 21 to 25 years (64.4%)), including 54 patients with and 50 patients without BPD. Most of them had incomplete higher education (55%). We used the Russian version of the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) to reveal alexithymia and SCID-II to diagnose BPD. The presence of self-harm behavior was confirmed by the subjects' anamnesis data. The prevalence of alexithymia in patients with BPD was 83.3%, in the control group it was 52% (p=0.001). The prevalence of self-aggression was 70.3% (n=38) in patients with BPD, and 12% (n=6) in people without BPD. Self-harm among persons with alexithymia was noted in 62.5% (n=45). During the analysis, a connection between auto-aggression and alexithymia was found at the level of a statistical trend (p=0.051). Alexithymia and self-harm are more common in patients with BPD than in healthy people. This type of emotional dysregulation mediates self-harm in patients with BPD.