Childhood sexual abuse in adult patients with borderline personality disorder

BACKGROUND: Researchers have found elevated rates of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) in borderline personality disorder (BPD) patients. They have also implicated the role of CSA later in BPD. However, there has been a scarcity of studies regarding this in Indian population. OBJECTIVES: To profile the occurrence of CSA and its parameters in BPD patients and to document symptomatology of BPD associated with CSA. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thirty-six consecutive patients with BPD were administered with a two-staged semi-structured interview by different interviewers with the first stage for collecting sociodemographic details and confirming BPD diagnosis and the second stage for collecting information about CSA. RESULTS: Of 36 BPD patients, 16 (44.44%) reported a history of definite CSA. The majority of CSA associated with BPD were having characteristics of onset at 7–12 years, <10 occasions of abuse, perpetrator being a close relative or a close acquaintance and genital type of CSA. Identity disturbances (P = 0.0354), recurrent suicidal/self-harm behavior (P = 0.0177), and stress-related paranoid/dissociative symptoms (P = 0.0177) were significantly associated with the presence of CSA while unstable interpersonal relationships (P = 0.001) were significantly associated with the absence of CSA. CONCLUSION: Significant proportion of BPD patients reported CSA. The specific symptom profile of BPD patients can be used to predict the presence of CSA in these patients, which has a direct implication in the treatment of these patients.