Comorbidity of personality disorders and posttraumatic stress disorder

Abstract

Personality disorders and particularly Boderline Personality Disorder co-occur with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)often. An overview on the implications of this comorbidity will be given. Comorbid PTSD is a high risk factor for non-remission and chonicity in BPD. The necessity of treating co-morbid PTSD symptoms in BPD is therefore apparent. However, most outcome studies on the treatment of PTSD have excluded individuals with BPD or symptoms of other severe personality disorders.

Within the last three years, our team has specifically designed and manualized “cognitive-dialectical trauma therapy” (CDT) to alleviate symptomatology of patients suffering from both BPD and PTSD. CDT combines elements of dialectic behavioural therapy (DBT): i.e. emotion regulation and mindfulness exercises, with those of state of the art PTSD treatment, in particular cognitive interventions and exposure treatment, as well as new elements. The data of a pilot study on the effects of CDT in patients suffering from BPD plus comorbid PTSD will be presented.