Associations of self-reported past "psychotic" phenomena with features of personality disorders

Patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD) may present with "psychotic" phenomena, which can be defined as a range of specified "altered experiences of reality." This study investigated the associations between self-reported past psychotic phenomena and features of DSM-III-R personality disorders (PDs) in 57 inpatients without a previous diagnosis of the main disorders that involve delusions and hallucinations. The present findings include associations between past psychotic phenomena and features of BPD, between repeated self-harm and a report that "thoughts seemed put into head," and between psychotic phenomena and features of other PDs, particularly schizotypal PD. There was a high prevalence of BPD in the present sample. Dissociation, in the context of the features of BPD, may be a causal factor for the development of some of the psychotic phenomena presented by patients with PD. Copyright (C) 2000 by W.B. Saunders Company.