Am J Psychiatry 1994; 151:1380-1382
Copyright © 1994 by American Psychiatric Association
Borderline personality disorder in adolescents: ubiquitous or specific?
KE Garnet, KN Levy, JJ Mattanah, WS Edell and TH McGlashan
Yale Psychiatric Institute, Yale University School of Medicine, Storrs, CT.
The authors sought to identify diagnostic criteria that are relatively
specific to borderline personality disorder in severely ill adolescent
inpatients and that may predict a stable borderline personality disorder
during this turbulent time. Twenty-one adolescent inpatients with
borderline personality disorder were contacted 2 years after the index
hospitalization (baseline). Seven of these patients met criteria for
borderline personality disorder at follow-up. The ability of baseline
criteria for borderline personality to predict the diagnosis of borderline
personality disorder at follow-up was determined. Criteria for borderline
personality disorder were sensitive for the stable disorder but not very
specific. Without follow-up data, the diagnostic significance of symptoms
of borderline personality disorder in adolescents appears uncertain.
