Time-to-Attainment of Recovery from Borderline Personality Disorder and Its Stability: A 10-year Prospective Follow-up Study

Objective—The first purpose of this study was to determine time-to attainment of recovery from borderline personality disorder and the second was to determine the stability of this important outcome. Method—290 inpatients meeting both Revised Diagnostic Interview for Borderlines and DSM-III-R criteria for the disorder were assessed during their index admission using a series of semistructured interviews and self-report measures. The same instruments were readministered at five contiguous two-year time periods. Results—All told, 50 % of the borderline patients studied achieved a recovery from borderline personality disorder—an outcome that required being symptomatically remitted and having good social and vocational functioning during the past two years. In contrast, 93 % of borderline patients attained a symptomatic remission lasting two years and 86 % attained a sustained symptomatic remission that lasted four years. In terms of stability of these outcomes, 34 % of borderline patients lost their recovery from borderline personality disorder. A similar 30 % had a symptomatic recurrence after a two-year long remission but only 15 % experienced a symptomatic recurrenc