Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment (Apr 2022)

Hallucinations and Other Psychotic Symptoms in Patients with Borderline Personality Disorder

  • Belohradova Minarikova K,
  • Prasko J,
  • Holubova M,
  • Vanek J,
  • Kantor K,
  • Slepecky M,
  • Latalova K,
  • Ociskova M

Journal volume & issue
Vol. Volume 18
pp. 787 – 799

Abstract

Read online

Kamila Belohradova Minarikova,1 Jan Prasko,1– 4 Michaela Holubova,5,6 Jakub Vanek,1 Krystof Kantor,1 Milos Slepecky,3 Klara Latalova,1 Marie Ociskova1 1Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, Palacky University, University Hospital, Olomouc, The Czech Republic; 2Institute for Postgraduate Education in Health Care, Prague, The Czech Republic; 3Department of Psychology Sciences, Faculty of Social Science and Health Care, Constantine the Philosopher University, Nitra, The Slovak Republic; 4Jessenia, a.s., Rehabilitation Hospital Beroun, AKESO Holding, Beroun, The Czech Republic; 5Department of Psychiatry, Hospital Liberec, Liberec, The Czech Republic; 6Department of Pedagogy and Psychology, Faculty of Science, Humanities and education, Technical University, Liberec, The Czech RepublicCorrespondence: Jan Prasko, Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, Palacky University, University Hospital, I. P. Pavlova 6, Olomouc, 779 00, The Czech Republic, Email [email protected]: Psychotic symptoms in BPD are not uncommon, and they are diverse and phenomenologically similar to those in schizophrenia spectrum disorders. Despite their prevalence in BPD patients, knowledge about the characteristics and severity of hallucinations is limited, especially in modalities other than auditory.Aim: This review summarises the causes, phenomenology, severity, and treatment options of hallucinations and other psychotic symptoms in BPD.Methods: The PubMed database was used with the following key terms: “borderline personality disorder” and ‘hallucinations’ and “psychotic symptoms”. Articles were selected between January 1990 and May 2021. The primary keyword search yielded a total of 545 papers, of which 102 articles met the inclusion criteria and were fully screened. Papers from the primary source reference lists were also screened, assessed for eligibility, and then added to the primary documents where appropriate (n = 143). After the relevance assessment, 102 papers were included in the review. We included adult and adolescent studies to gather more recent reviews on this topic.Results: Hallucinations are significantly prevalent in BPD, mainly auditory, similar to schizophrenia spectrum disorders. The relationship between hallucinations and depression, anxiety, suicidality, schizotypy, and loneliness in BPD has been discovered but requires more research. Studies for treatment options for hallucinations in BPD are lacking.Conclusion: Recognition of psychotic symptoms in patients with BPD as distinguished psychopathological phenomena instead of diminishing and overlooking them is essential in the clinical assessment and can be useful in predicting complications during treatment. More focused research in this area is needed.Keywords: borderline personality disorder, psychotic symptoms, hallucinations, treatment, pharmacotherapy, psychotherapy

Keywords