Am J Psychiatry 1990; 147:161-167
Copyright © 1990 by American Psychiatric Association
Discriminating borderline personality disorder from other axis II disorders
MC Zanarini, JG Gunderson, FR Frankenburg and DL Chauncey
Psychosocial Research Program, McLean Hospital, Belmont, MA 02178.
The authors used the Revised Diagnostic Interview for Borderline Patients
to assess 22 clinical features of 120 patients with borderline personality
disorder and 103 control subjects with other axis II disorders. Four of the
22 features were common in but nondiscriminating for borderline disorder,
11 were discriminating for but nonspecific to borderline disorder, and
seven were more specific to borderline disorder. The authors conclude that
many clinical features thought to be indicative of borderline disorder are
better viewed as personality disorder traits and that the seven more
specific features, alone or in conjunction with one another, may be
particularly useful markers for borderline personality disorder.
