Parents ’ Emotional Neglect and Overprotection According to the Recollections of Patients With Borderline Personality Disorder

Objective: The purpose of this study was to test clinical hypotheses about the role of emotional neglect and overprotection in the childhood of patients with borderline person-ality disorder. Methoth The subjects were male and female borderline (N=62) and nonbor-derline (N = 99) patients from a general hospital psychiatric clinic and a university student mental health clinic. Both groups were administered the Parental Bonding Instrument, which measures subjects ’ recollections ofparenting on dimensions ofcare and protection. Results: The findings showed that the patients with borderline personality disorder remembered both their fathers and their mothers as having been significantly less caring and more controlling than did the nonborderline patients. The results were the same for male and female subjects and for subjects from both sites. Conclusions: The recollections provide support for psy-chodynamic theories about the childhood of borderline patients and for a theory of bipa-rental failure in the development of borderline pathology. (Am J Psychiatry 1991; 148:648-651) C linicians treating patients with borderline person-ality disorder have proposed that early famil