Data Identifies Symptoms Bridging BPD and PTSD

Recent data has uncovered critical overlaps between borderline personality disorder (BPD) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) that could inform future treatment options. Researchers argue that these so-called “bridge symptoms” might link these two commonly comorbid conditions.

BPD patients typically report co-occurring disorders, with PTSDthe most common. Anywhere between 29 percent and 55 percent of BPD patients also struggle with PTSD. And 24 percent of those with PTSD meet the clinical criteria for BPD.

While we classify BPD and PTSD separately, the symptoms that define each can overlap quite a bit. Obviously, this can make diagnosis and treatment problematic.

Making Sense of Confusing Symptoms

Recent interest in complex PTSD (cPTSD) – which is distinct but shares symptoms with both BPD and PTSD – further muddies the waters. But identifying bridge symptoms offers a potential pathway to improve therapeutic outcomes by focusing on these overlaps.

Leveraging network analysis – a tool that maps out relationships among symptoms – researchers combed through data pulled from the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC). This approach exposed which symptoms are central to BPD and PTSD individually, along with those that bridge the two. One of the most critical revelations they stumbled onto is that caregivers can target these bridge symptoms for treatment to manage both conditions more efficiently.

In the study – appearing in The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry – researchers worked with a generous data sample from more than 34,000 U.S. adults. And network analysis allowed the team to identify connections between BPD and PTSD symptoms that could steer future therapy.

The network analysis method measures “centrality,” or the influence of specific symptoms within a disorder, helping to identify which symptoms might play a pivotal role in linking two disorders. The study’s authors found that symptoms such as “chronic feelings of emptiness,” “self-harm,” and “detachment” had strong connections between BPD and PTSD.

For instance, “self-harm” and “feelings of detachment or estrangement” strongly interlinked across the two conditions, suggesting that emotional dysregulation might run through both, acting as a bridge between them.

These results suggest that addressing these symptoms specifically during therapy could relieve the symptoms.

Digging Deeper into BPD, PTSD

Within BPD, symptoms such as “chronic feelings of emptiness” appeared to be the most influential, connecting to other crucial symptoms such as “self-harm.” This connection underscores the suicide risk and the importance of specific therapeutic approaches to manage those feelings.

Similarly, in the PTSD network, symptoms related to “intrusive recollections” and “avoidance of trauma reminders” emerged as pivotal, stressing the influence of trauma memory on everyday life. But they appeared to play a lesser role in bridging BPD and PTSD compared to more affective symptoms such as “detachment.”

The combined BPD/PTSD network showed strong associations between “self-harm” in BPD and “detachment” in PTSD. This suggests that these symptoms might serve as potentially powerful points of intervention. Targeting feelings of detachment, often linked to impaired social interactions, might help alleviate symptoms in patients with both disorders, mitigating suicidal tendencies. The inclusion of detachment-related symptoms in the redefined cPTSD diagnosis underlines the significance of this symptom as an inflection point.

In clinical practice, focusing on bridge symptoms such as emptiness, detachment, self-aggression, and dissociation could lead to more tailored, effective treatments for BPD and PTSD patients alike. By focusing on these areas, therapies might better address the underlying mechanisms that connect these disorders, which could reduce the burden on patients and improve outcomes.

Further Reading

Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Shows Promise in Treating PTSD

Researchers Identify Variables Driving PTSD in Traumatized Youth

Early Trauma Linked to More Pain and Loneliness at Life’s End