Higher indexes of childhood trauma in borderline personality disorder compared with bipolar disorder

Abstract

Aim. Comparison of the frequency of childhood traumatic events between a group of patients with bipolar disorder (BD), borderline personality disorder (BPD) and healthy persons. Methods. The study included 35 patients (10 male, 25 female) with BD, hospitalized in the Department of Adult Psychiatry in Poznan, the Neuropsychiatric Hospital in Koscian and the Medical Centre in Milicz, as well as 35 patients (9 male, 26 female) with BPD under the care of the Józef Babinski Hospital in Kraków. Seventy-one healthy persons (22 male, 49 female) constituted a control group. The Polish version of the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ) was used. Results. In both clinical groups, no gender differences as to the CTQ indexes were found. Patients from both groups had more frequent childhood trauma compared with control subjects. Patients with BPD showed significantly higher CTQ indexes than those with BD. Conclusions. The obtained results indicate significantly more frequent experience of traumatic events in childhood in patients with BPD compared with BD. This is discussed in the context of the pathogenesis and treatment of both conditions. It is probable that in BPD childhood trauma plays the biggest role among all psychiatric disturbances.