Borderline personality disorder and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder in adolescence: overlap and differences in a clinical setting

BACKGROUND: With increased consensus regarding the validity and reliability of diagnosing Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) in adolescents, clinicians express concern over the distinction between BPD and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), and its co-morbidity in clinical settings. The goal of this study was to evaluate differences between BPD, ADHD and BPD + ADHD in terms of co-morbid psychiatric disorders and a range of self-reported behavioral problems in adolescents. METHODS: Our sample consisted of N = 550 inpatient adolescents with behavioral and emotional disorders that have not responded to prior intervention. We took a person-centered approach (for increase clinical relevance) and compared adolescents with ADHD, BPD and ADHD+BPD in terms of co-occurring psychiatric disorders and behavioral problems. We performed a regression analysis to test whether BPD symptoms make an incremental contribution to the prediction of psychiatric symptoms over ADHD symptoms. RESULTS: The severity of almost all co-occurring disorders, aggression, self-harm, suicidal thoughts, and substance use, were higher in the ADHD+BPD group. Borderline symptoms made an incremental contribution to the prediction of psychiatric symptoms beyond the contribution of ADHD. CONCLUSION: Severity and co-morbidity may be helpful factors in distinguishing between ADHD and BPD in clinical practice and the co-morbidity of these two disorders may indicate a worse clinical outcome.