Association between non-suicidal self-injury and suicidal behavior in Borderline Personality Disorder: a retrospective study

Abstract

Introduction. Suicidal behavior (SB) spectrum is nuclear in the clinic and management of Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). Although in recent research papers non-suicidal self-injury behavior (NSSI) and suicidal behavior (SB) differ in intentionality, frequency and lethality; these two behaviors have been described concurrently with a controversial distinction. Few works talk about the reason for the co-occurrence between both entities in the psychiatric population in general and in BPD in particular. The aim of the report is to analyze the link between SB and NSSI in BPD.

Methods. A cross-sectional, observational and retrospective study was carried out on a sample of 134 patients between 18 and 56 years old, diagnosed with BPD according to DSM-5 criteria. The association between variables was analyzed through a negative binomial and multivariate logistic regression model.

Results. 77.6% report a history of at least one suicide attempt (SA), while 30.4% none. The average number of SA is 2.69. For NSSI, 64.2% presented them, while 35.8% did not. A statistically significant association is found between both of them. NSSI are also significantly related to performing a greater number of SA according to the multivariate analysis.

Conclusions. The results suggest that these behaviors are nuclear and frequent in BPD. Both appear significantly related to each other. Looking ahead, longitudinal studies are needed to confirm the relationship between these variables.