Harm avoidance, self-harm, psychic pain, and the borderline personality: life in a “haunted house”

Abstract

This article investigates the pattern of temperament for patients with borderline personality disorder and the impact of psychotherapeutic treatment on temperamental variables. A cohort of patients treated in the Westmead Borderline Personality Disorder Psychotherapy research project completed the Tridimensional Personality Questionnaire. All patients had a diagnosis of borderline personality disorder according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Revised Third Edition, criteria. This group scored highly on novelty-seeking and harm avoidance scales and moderately on reward dependence. There was a significant reduction in harm avoidance after 12 months of psychotherapy with a further reduction after 2 years in therapy. Although at variance with Cloninger's original prediction of low harm avoidance in histrionic and borderline patients, results are consistent with other studies in this patient group. The paradox of “self-harmers” scoring highly on harm avoidance may be explained by recognition of the intensity of “psychic pain” in this group. Self-harming behaviors may frequently be motivated by avoidance of a “greater harm” in terms of the inner psychic reality for these patients. Reduction in harm avoidance with psychotherapy could suggest an impact of treatment on temperament or may indicate that the harm avoidance construct is influenced by state variables such as mood.