The case of an aging person with borderline personality disorder and possible dementia

2010 ◽  
Vol 22 (5) ◽  
pp. 840-843 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward Helmes ◽  
Lynda Steward
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Borderline Personality Disorder ◽  
Personality Disorder ◽  
Neuropsychological Assessment ◽  
Borderline Personality ◽  
Average Level ◽  
Test Of Memory Malingering ◽  
Memory Tests ◽  
Memory Impairments ◽  
Normal Limits

ABSTRACTThere is little literature on older adults with borderline personality disorder during neuropsychological assessment. Here we report on a 59-year-old woman with borderline personality disorder who referred herself for assessment because she feared the onset of dementia. Results showed an above average level of intelligence, with scores on memory tests that ranged from well below to well above average in a pattern that was not consistent with a dementia or with common forms of neurologically based memory impairments. A test of memory malingering was within normal limits. Results are discussed in terms of somatization within this personality disorder.

Emotion-Oriented Coping Style Predicts Self-Harm in Response to Acute Psychiatric Hospitalization

Crisis ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Jacqueline M. Frei ◽  
Vladimir Sazhin ◽  
Melissa Fick ◽  
Keong Yap
Keyword(s):  
Borderline Personality Disorder ◽  
Personality Disorder ◽  
Psychiatric Hospitalization ◽  
Coping Styles ◽  
Psychiatric Inpatients ◽  
Borderline Personality ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Therapeutic Interventions ◽  
Coping Behaviors ◽  
Self Harm

Abstract. Psychiatric hospitalization can cause significant distress for patients. Research has shown that to cope with the stress, patients sometimes resort to self-harm. Given the paucity of research on self-harm among psychiatric inpatients, a better understanding of transdiagnostic processes as predictors of self-harm during psychiatric hospitalization is needed. The current study examined whether coping styles predicted self-harm after controlling for commonly associated factors, such as age, gender, and borderline personality disorder. Participants were 72 patients (mean age = 39.32 years, SD = 12.29, 64% male) admitted for inpatient treatment at a public psychiatric hospital in Sydney, Australia. Participants completed self-report measures of coping styles and ward-specific coping behaviors, including self-harm, in relation to coping with the stress of acute hospitalization. Results showed that younger age, diagnosis of borderline personality disorder, and higher emotion-oriented coping were associated with self-harm. After controlling for age and borderline personality disorder, higher levels of emotion-oriented coping were found to be a significant predictor of self-harm. Findings were partially consistent with hypotheses; emotion-oriented but not avoidance-oriented coping significantly predicted self-harm. This finding may help to identify and provide psychiatric inpatients who are at risk of self-harm with appropriate therapeutic interventions.

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