Self-injurious acts are understood as transnosologic behaviors, which by their vital risk andIntroducción L a observación directa o indirecta de conductas autolesivas deliberadamente autoprovocadas por una persona con o sin patología mental diagnosticada, provoca gran impacto social, ya que la búsqueda de la sobrevivencia es un principio inherente tanto a los seres humanos como al resto de los animales. En la práctica médica, estas conductas constituyen un problema clínico cada vez más frecuente. No obstante, habitualmente son pobremente comprendidas generando sentimientos ambivalentes en los profesionales de la salud.Esclarecer el concepto de conductas autolesivas, estableciendo sus límites y factores de riesgo, permite proponer un apropiado abordaje diagnóstico y terapéutico. De este modo es posible contribuir a ayudar más eficientemente a las personas que padecen este síndrome conductual.Se realiza un trabajo de revisión bibliográfica, incluyendo la literatura publicada entre los años 1960 y 2010, en revistas indexadas ISI, revistas no indexadas nacionales y capítulos de libros. Debe explicitarse que este artículo no tiene el objetivo de ser una revisión bibliográfica sistemática, sino más bien una lectura comprensiva de la literatura

Introduction: Personality Disorders (PD) have a high complexity, existential impact, diffi cult therapeutic bond and prevalence values vary widely. University Psychiatric Clinic of the University of Chile (UPC) has since 1997 a multidisciplinary unit for patients with DP "Personality Disorders Unit" (PDU). The objective of this paper is to describe demographic and psychopathological patients treated with DP in the PDU. Methods: Review of 174 records of patients treated in the PDU between years 2006 and 2008, with predesigned database and statistical analysis of it. Results: There was a higher proportion of female patients (3:1), single (48 %) with children (56%), highly educated (56%), stable job (32%) with multiple prior episodes (35%) and for most it was their fi rst psychiatric hospitalization (51.7%). 71% of patients have any level of suicidal risk. The most frequent of PD diagnosis was Borderline Personality Disorder (48%). In Axis I disorders 30% had depression, but 44% had multiple disorders. Conclusion: The analyzed data are needed for future implementation and evaluation of interventions to better care for patients with PD from this and other specialized units created to treat such patients.

Introduction: Impulsiveness and aggressiveness are characteristics of borderline personality disorders. Aggressive and impulsive behaviors are associated to a serotoninergic system dysfunction and are treated with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). The short (S) allele of the serotonin transporter promoter (5-HTTPR) gene is associated to a worse response to SSRI in major depression. The objective of this work is to study the anti-impulsive effect of fluoxetine and his relation with short and long alleles of 5-HTTPR gene in borderline personality disordered patients. Method: 59 patients with DSM-IV borderline personality disorder were treated with fluoxetine for 12 weeks. Impulsivity was evaluated with the Overt Aggression Scale Modified (OAS-M). Polymorphisms L and S of the 5-HTTPR gene were determined. Results: S carriers (LS and SS) had a significantly minor response on OAS-M and