Borderline Personality Disorder in a "Life History Theory" Perspective: Evidence for a Fast "Pace-of-Life-Syndrome".

Benjamin Otto,Martin Brüne,Lisa Kokkelink

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.715153

Benjamin Otto, Martin Brüne + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.715153

Copy DOI

Abstract

“Borderline Personality Disorder” (BPD) is associated with heightened risk for cardiovascular disease and other stress-associated somatic consequences, which is poorly understood in terms of causal mechanisms, such as childhood trauma. Here, we tested the hypothesis suggesting that BPD reflects a fast “Pace-of-Life-Syndrome” (PoLS). Ninety-five women (44 diagnosed with BPD) were recruited to examine psychological correlates of PoLS, including life history features, personality dimensions, aggressiveness, chronic stress, borderline symptom severity, childhood trauma, and allostatic load (AL). In line with expectations, BPD patients had significantly higher scores suggestive of a fast PoLS than controls, they were more aggressive, more burdened with chronic stress and were exposed to more severe childhood adversity. Childhood trauma predicted PoLS, which in turn predicted AL. The present study thus provides direct evidence of psychological and somatic traits associated with the fast end of the PoLS spectrum in females with BPD. Findings are discussed with regard to clinical implications.

Highlights

Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is a psychiatric disorder featured by intense fears of abandonment, difficulties in emotion regulation, feelings of emptiness, unstable interpersonal relationships, impulsivity, and heightened risk-taking behaviors, as well as high levels of interpersonal aggression
The group diagnosed with BPD and the control group were carefully matched for age, such that no statistically significant difference emerged with regard to age (F = 0.951, df = 1, p = 0.332)
A multivariate analyses of variance (MANOVA) revealed that the two groups differed significantly in all aspects of life history strategy (LHS) as measured using the Arizona Life History Battery (ALHB) (Table 1)

Summary

Introduction

Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is a psychiatric disorder featured by intense fears of abandonment, difficulties in emotion regulation, feelings of emptiness, unstable interpersonal relationships, impulsivity, and heightened risk-taking behaviors, as well as high levels of interpersonal aggression. BPD is even more frequent, with an 8.3-fold higher all-cause mortality compared to the general population (Kjær et al, 2018), rendering the condition as highly relevant for public health. Controversially discussed, it seems that females are more frequently affected from BPD, at least in clinical settings, than males, with a ratio of about four to one (Paris et al, 2013)

Results

Discussion

Conclusion