Am J Psychiatry 1985; 142:15-21
Copyright © 1985 by American Psychiatric Association
Depression in borderline personality disorder: lifetime prevalence at interview and longitudinal course of symptoms
JC Perry
The author compared a group of patients with borderline personality
disorder with groups of subjects with antisocial personality and bipolar II
illness. The lifetime prevalence at interview of DSM-III major depression
was high in all groups. Chronic depression demonstrated a specific
relationship to borderline psychopathology. Prospectively, borderline
psychopathology predicted high levels of depressive and anxiety symptoms.
This relationship was reversed for depressive symptoms in patients with
antisocial personality disorder, suggesting that when borderline and
antisocial personality disorders occur together, some features may arise
that differentiate patients with both disorders from those with either
disorder alone.
