Evidence map›Paper›PMID 24791755›Full record

ReviewDeutsches Arzteblatt international2014

Borderline personality disorder and comorbid addiction: epidemiology and treatment.

Thorsten Kienast, Jutta Stoffers, Felix Bermpohl, Klaus Lieb

Abstract readReview
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Review in Deutsches Arzteblatt international, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 39 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
39citing papers in PubMed, 3 pooled it
5.8field-weighted citation impact, top 4% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

39 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 112 citations in OpenAlex.

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  9. Borderline Personality Symptoms, Body Modification, and Emotional Regulation.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2025
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.

Thorsten KienastDepartment of Psychological Medicine, Max-Grundig-Clinic, Bühl/Baden, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy at the Charité Campus Mitte, Berlin, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Hospital of Freiburg, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center Mainz.
Jutta Stoffers
Felix Bermpohl
Klaus Lieb
University Medical Center Freiburg · DECharité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin · DEMax Grundig Klinik · DE

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundBorderline personality disorder (BPD) affects 2.7% of adults. About 78% of adults with BPD also develop a substance-related disorder or addiction at some time in their lives. These persons are more impulsive and clinically less stable than BPD patients without substance dependency. They display suicidal behavior to a greater extent, drop out of treatment more often, and have shorter abstinence phases. The combination of borderline personality disorder with addiction requires a special therapeutic approach.

methodThis review is based on a selective literature search about the treatment of patients with BPD and addiction, with particular attention to Cochrane Reviews and randomized controlled trials (RCT).

resultsThe available evidence is scant. In two RCTs, Dialectical Behavior Therapy for Substance Use Disorders (DBT-SUD) was found to improve patients' overall functional level (standardized mean difference, 1.07-1.78) and to increase the number of abstinence days (effect strength [ES], 1.03) and negative urine samples (ES, 0.75). Dual focus schema therapy (DFST) was evaluated in three RCTs. Because of methodological problems, however, no useful quantitative comparison across trials is possible. In one RCT, dynamic deconstructive psychotherapy (DDP) was found to have only a moderate, statistically insignificant effect. Only a single study provides data about potentially helpful drug therapy over the intermediate term.

conclusionPatients with borderline personality disorder and comorbid addiction should be treated as early as possible for both conditions in a thematically hierarchical manner. There is no evidence for any restriction on drug therapy to prevent recurrent addiction in these patients. The psychotherapeutic techniques that can be used (despite the currently inadequate evidence base) include DBT-SUD, DFST, and DDP. These patients need qualified expert counseling in choosing a suitable type of psychotherapy. Specific treatment is available in only a few places, and the relevant treatment networks in Germany are just beginning to be constructed.

Indexed as

Borderline Personality DisorderCognitive Behavioral TherapyComorbidityFemaleHumansMalePrevalenceRisk FactorsSubstance-Related DisordersTreatment Outcome

Identifiers

PMID24791755
PMCPMC4010862
OpenAlexW750772470

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.