Dr. Randy A. Sansone, an internationally renowned expert in eating disorders, talks about borderline personality disorder and the unique challenges those who suffer from it may face.  He will discuss this topic at the upcoming symposium on April 12, 2008, hosted by The Center for Eating Disorders at Sheppard Pratt.

What is borderline personality disorder? 

Borderline personality is a longstanding dysfunction in personality that is characterized by three fundamental features: (1) a superficially intact social facade or veneer; (2) longstanding difficulties in self-regulation (i.e., an inability to effectively regulate oneself, which might emerge as eating disorders, alcohol/drug problems, promiscuity, difficulty regulating money, chronic pain syndromes); and (3) chronic self-harm behavior (e.g., self-mutilation such as cutting, hitting, burning, or scratching oneself; suicide attempts; engagement in abusive relationships; high-risk hobbies/behaviors with the intent of gambling with death).

How frequent does this co-occur in individuals with eating disorders? 

The data indicate that about one-quarter to about one-third of individuals with eating disorders have co-morbid borderline personality disorder. The disorder is less common among those with restricting anorexia nervosa and more common among eating disorder syndromes characterized by impulsivity (such as anorexia nervosa, binge-purge type; bulimia nervosa, purging type).

What unique challenges face this population in learning to manage their eating disorder? 

While standard eating disorder treatment is helpful, it must be augmented with psychotherapy intervention for the personality disorder. In many cases, the function of the eating disorder symptoms extends beyond food/body/weight issues and may relate, in addition, to self-harm behavior. In addition, there are oftentimes adjunctive self-regulatory and self-harm issues that must be addressed in treatment (e.g., substance abuse, suicide attempts). Because borderline personality is oftentimes associated with early developmental trauma, these issues must be taken into account, as well. 

**Some data suggests that individuals with eating disorders and borderline personality may have more severe symptoms as well as less robust treatment outcomes, compared to individuals with eating disorders, alone. Other data suggests that the treatment response to the eating disorder symptoms may improve equally well, but the individual’s overall functionality is less.

Read more about Dr. Randy A. Sansone, M.D.

If you are a mental health professional and are interested in hearing Dr. Sansone speak on this subject, you can register for the April 12th symposium online at www.eventville.com/sheppardpratt.