Childhood Abuse as a Risk Factor for Suicidal Behavior in Borderline Personality Disorder

Viewing borderline personality disorder (BPD) as a “high risk” disorder, the authors investigated whether childhood abuse was a risk factor for adult suicidal behavior or if it was related to other known risk factors for suicide in BPD. They found that occurrence & severity of childhood sexual abuse, but not physical abuse, predicted adult suicidal behavior independent of other known risk factors. The odds of a sexually abused patient attempting suicide in adulthood was over 10 times that of a patient who was never sexually abused. (54 refs)