Faculty Bibliography

"We depend upon the services of the professional to increase the control we have over our own lives … to maintain our health … to protect our interests… . [We have] grown culturally dependent upon the professions as custodians of many of our most basic values … translating these values into concrete institutional forms." -- Jennings, Callahan, & Wolf, 1987 "Sed quis custodiet ipsos Custodes?" But who is to guard the guards themselves?" Decimis Junius Juvenal ("Satires VI").

The DSM-III definition of borderline personality disorder emphasizes affective symptoms. The authors hypothesized that depressed patients with borderline personality disorder would be more likely to be suicidal than those without this diagnosis. Of 53 inpatients treated for depression, 46 manifested personality disorders; borderline personality disorder was the most prevalent axis II diagnosis. That borderline patients had more complicated courses than the other depressed patients was evidenced by their histories of suicidal behavior. Most patients diagnosed as having borderline personality disorder continued to fulfill criteria for this diagnosis even when suicide attempts were excluded as a diagnostic criterion.

Of 45 female inpatients with schizophrenia, depression, borderline personality, or depression and borderline personality, 28 met criteria for probable or definite premenstrual affective syndrome. Of these 28, 16 had abnormal sexual histories, compared with only 1 of the 17 women who did not have premenstrual affective syndrome. Of the 12 patients with both depression and borderline personality disorder, 9 had both premenstrual affective syndrome and abnormal sexual histories. The 6 patients who had been raped all met the criteria for premenstrual affective syndrome. The authors suggest that premenstrual affective syndrome may signify unresolved sexual conflicts in subgroups of psychiatric patients.