[Childhood trauma in the etiology of borderline personality disorder]

Abstract

Serious, prolonged intrafamilial childhood sexual abuse is considered to be the main etiological factor in about half of the patients with borderline personality disorder in the USA. Special features of childhood interpersonal trauma leading to the development of borderline personality disorder are the seriousness of the trauma and the fact that it is sexual in nature. Serious intrafamilial childhood abuse can lead not only to the classic post-traumatic stress syndrome, but can influence all aspects of personality development, including the distortion of the sense of identity, self-regulation, and the patterns of interpersonal relations. Viewed from the perspective of the trauma concept, the entire range of adult borderline symptoms are considered as being the consequences of severe complex traumatic experiences. Other clinicians regard such an abuse as a marker of the severity of familial dysfunction and emphasize the role of other pathogenic factors, such as biparental neglect and biological vulnerability of the pre-borderline child.