Unidirectionality Between Borderline Personality Disorder Traits and Psychopathology in a Residential Addictions Sample: A Short-Term Longitudinal Study

Abstract

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a barrier to treatment, yet the relationship between BPD features and other psychopathology symptoms in a residential addictions treatment samples is understudied. Using a sample of adults enrolled in a residential drug treatment facility measured at baseline and 2–3 month follow-up, we examined the prospective relationship between BPD features and five indices of psychopathology: depression, anxiety, interpersonal sensitivity, hostility, and psychoticism, as well as psychopathology global severity. There was no effect of time on any of the forms of psychopathology, but females reported higher levels of BPD features, anxiety symptoms, and interpersonal sensitivity than males. A series of latent change score models indicated that BPD features predicted increases in all psychopathology scales at follow-up, while the reverse was not true. These results suggest that targeting BPD features in residential drug treatment facilities may reduce the emergence of new psychopathology in the short-term.