A current view of the interface between borderline personality disorder and depression

The recent and dramatic expansion in studies about borderline and depressive disorders is reviewed and implications are drawn with respect to classification, therapeutics, and defining the borderline construct.

Abstract

The recent and dramatic expansion in studies about borderline and depressive disorders is reviewed with respect to the implications about their interface. Revisiting this subject 6 years after an earlier review reveals that intervening research has altered the conclusions that should be drawn. Growing evidence from family history, comorbidity, phenomenology, psychopharmacology, biological markers, and a new domain, pathogenesis, indicates that a surprisingly weak and nonspecific relationship exists between these disorders. Implications are drawn with respect to classification, therapeutics, and defining the borderline construct.