Aaron, Bianca F

Gallagher, Molly J

Miller, Elaina J

Tomoko, Rachel L

Trull, Timothy J

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Washington University School of MedicineDigital Commons@BeckerPosters2010: Disentangling the Genetics of Alcoholism:Understanding Pathophysiology and ImprovingTreatment2010Correlation of substance use disorder and self-harmurges and actions in Borderline PersonalityDisorderBianca F. AaronUniversity of Missouri - ColumbiaTimothy J. TrullUniversity of Missouri - ColumbiaRachel L. TomokoUniversity of Missouri - ColumbiaElaina J. MillerUniversity of Missouri - ColumbiaMolly J. GallagherUniversity of Missouri - ColumbiaFollow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.wustl.edu/guzeposter2010Part of the Medicine and Health Sciences CommonsThis Poster is brought to you for free and open access by the 2010: Disentangling the Genetics of Alcoholism: Understanding Pathophysiology andImproving Treatment at Digital Commons@Becker. It has been accepted for inclusion in Posters by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@Becker. For more information, please contact engeszer@wustl.edu.Recommended CitationAaron, Bianca F.; Trull, Timothy J.; Tomoko, Rachel L.; Miller, Elaina J.; and Gallagher, Molly J., "Correlation of substance use disorderand self-harm urges and actions in Borderline Personality Disorder" (2010). Posters. Paper 2 Samuel B. Guze Symposium onAlcoholism.http://digitalcommons.wustl.edu/guzeposter2010/2Introduction¾Self-harming behavior is one of the unique features of borderline personality disorder (BPD).  BPD is also associated with other impulsive or maladaptive behaviors (e.g., substance use, spending sprees, binge eating).  These behaviors are thought to be either indicative of general impulsivity or to be maladaptive attempts to regulate negative affect.¾The goal of the current study is to see if there are any differences in self-harm urges and actions between BPD patients with a comorbid substance use disorder (SUD) and those without.  We would expect that individuals with greater impulsivity would have an increase in both substance use and self-harm behaviors.    ¾Specifically, we hypothesize that individuals with borderline personality disorder and a comorbidsubstance use disorder (SUD) will have more urges for self-harm/suicide ideation, and a greater frequency of actual self-harm actions and/or suicide attempts than those with BPD without a comorbid SUD. Method¾All participants were outpatients recruited from a Dialectical Behavior Therapy treatment program in which they recorded their harmful urges, and actions on a weekly basis. ¾Each participant filled out a weekly diary card on which they rated their urges for self-harm on a scale from 1 to 5 where 1 is the lowest urge for self-harm. The participants also recorded a “yes” or “no”concerning whether or not they took actions toward self-harm.Discussion¾This research provides a better understanding of the high comorbidity rate between BPD and SUD.¾Overall, the results indicate that BPD participants in this study who do not have a substance use problem tend to have a higher probability of hurting themselves or attempting suicide than participants who do have a use problem. ¾This result could be because the participants who have a substance use problem have an alternative to actually committing self-harm. For these participants, using the substances could provide a coping mechanism for them to avoid acting on their urges. Correlation of Substance Use Disorder and Self-Harm Urges and Actions in Borderline Personality DisorderBianca F. Aaron, Timothy J. Trull, Rachel L. Tomko, Elaina J. Miller, Molly J. GallagherUniversity of Missouri - Columbia1.20Data Analysis¾For all participants, with or without substance abuse or dependence, averages were calculated for the urges for self-harm/suicide and for actual self-harm behaviors.¾The participants with a lifetime history of SUD were compared to those without a lifetime history of SUD using a t-test. ¾We also compared the participants with alcohol use disorder (AUD) with participants without AUD and participants with drug use disorders (DUD) with those without. ¾For calculation purposes, “yes” was equivalent to 1 and “no” to 0. An average urge for self-harm across all diary cards was calculated for each participant.  The proportion of self-harm actions, out of the total days tracked, was calculated as well.  ¾SUD diagnoses were established by the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Disorders (SCID-I).  For the purposes of the current analyses, we separated these participants into one of two diagnostic categories based on lifetime diagnosis: substance abuse/dependence or the absence thereof.  Results¾BPD participants who did not have SUD had more self-harm actions than those who did have SUD (p=0.075). This was a trend toward significance. ¾This was true even when we compared participants with AUD (p=0.075) and DUD (0.052) separately to those who did not have the use disorders. ¾There were no significant differences between groups for urges to self-harm or suicide ideation.Figure 1. Diary CardNOTE: The diary card is where participants tracked their weekly urges and actions for self-harm and suicide ideation.

Correlation of substance use disorder and self-harm urges and actions in Borderline Personality Disorder

http://digitalcommons.wustl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1001&context=guzeposter2010

Correlation of substance use disorder and self-harm urges and actions in Borderline Personality Disorder

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