Treatment response of borderline inpatients. A growth curve analysis.

This study examined the course of 40 hospitalized female borderline personality disorder patients over 25 weeks of inpatient treatment. Course was measured through weekly administration of the SCL-90-R. Level of identity and interpersonal problems, hypothesized by Kernberg to be at the center of the borderline patient's pathology, were found to be powerful predictors of treatment course. Patients with the most severe identity and interpersonal problems reported more symptoms throughout treatment and increasing symptom levels over time. This was very different from patients with the lowest level of identity and interpersonal problems, who reported fewer symptoms overall and decreasing symptoms over time.