Treatment Outcome of Three Female Adolescents with Borderline Personality Disorder

This paper presents a follow-up of the psychoanalytic psychotherapy of three female adolescents who met DSM III criteria for borderline personality disorder (BPD). A questionnaire was offered to them 15-30 years after their initial psychotherapeutic contact in an effort to assess the effects of the psychotherapy and their current status. Although all patients came from a White, privileged background, they had very chaotic, disturbed families with absent parent(s), sexual and physical abuse, and few supportive adults during their teenage years. The findings were that all of them had 1) completed the developmental tasks of adolescence; 2) met requirements for being in remission; and 3) had fulfilling, successful adult lives, despite not being entirely free of psychopathology. While not discounting the fact that other influences in their ecosystems were also helpful, we conclude that psychoanalytic psychotherapy with adolescents with borderline personality disorder may be very beneficial.