1. The role of borderline personality disorder traits in predicting longitudinal variability of major depressive symptoms among a sample of depressed adults.
- Author
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Kline EA, Lekkas D, Bryan A, Nemesure MD, Griffin TZ, Collins AC, Price GD, Heinz MV, Nepal S, Pillai A, Campbell AT, and Jacobson NC
- Subjects
- Humans, Female, Adult, Male, Middle Aged, Young Adult, Neuroticism, Self Report, Psychiatric Status Rating Scales, Depression psychology, Depression epidemiology, Longitudinal Studies, Bayes Theorem, Severity of Illness Index, Comorbidity, Borderline Personality Disorder psychology, Borderline Personality Disorder epidemiology, Borderline Personality Disorder diagnosis, Depressive Disorder, Major psychology, Depressive Disorder, Major epidemiology, Ecological Momentary Assessment
- Abstract
Background: Major depressive disorder (MDD) and borderline personality disorder (BPD) often co-occur, with 20 % of adults with MDD meeting criteria for BPD. While MDD is typically diagnosed by symptoms persisting for several weeks, research suggests a dynamic pattern of symptom changes occurring over shorter durations. Given the diagnostic focus on affective states in MDD and BPD, with BPD characterized by instability, we expected heightened instability of MDD symptoms among depressed adults with BPD traits. The current study examined whether BPD symptoms predicted instability in depression symptoms, measured by ecological momentary assessments (EMAs)., Methods: The sample included 207 adults with MDD (76 % White, 82 % women) recruited from across the United States. At the start of the study, participants completed a battery of mental health screens including BPD severity and neuroticism. Participants completed EMAs tracking their depression symptoms three times a day over a 90-day period., Results: Using self-report scores assessing borderline personality disorder (BPD) traits along with neuroticism scores and sociodemographic data, Bayesian and frequentist linear regression models consistently indicated that BPD severity was not associated with depression symptom change through time., Limitations: Diagnostic sensitivity and specificity may be restricted by use of a self-report screening tool for capturing BPD severity. Additionally, this clinical sample of depressed adults lacks a comparison group to determine whether subclinical depressive symptoms present differently among individuals with BPD only., Conclusions: The unexpected findings shed light on the interplay between these disorders, emphasizing the need for further research to understand their association., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest NCJ has received a research grant from Boehringer Ingelheim as PI (though there is no salary support or direct payments to NCJ the grant funds his personnel and his ability to collect data). Additionally, NCJ receives speaking fees and royalties related to publishing a book through the Academic Press., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)
- Published
- 2024
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