Hypermentalization in adolescents with borderline personality traits: extending the conceptual framework to younger ages.

摘要

Should borderline personality disorder (BPD) be diagnosed in adolescence? This is a controversial question because adolescent-onset BPD is difficult to differentiate from the moodiness and relationship turmoil of normal adolescence. Moreover, there exists a lack of stability of the BPD diagnosis in adolescent inpatient populations and community samples. However, countering these concerns is a growing consensus pertaining to the existence of adolescent-onset BPD and its negative consequences on facets of adult and adolescent functioning. Miller et al. suggested two possible subgroups of adolescents with BPD: one with more severe symptomatology, in whom the diagnosis persists; and another with less severe symptomatology, in whom symptom profiles vacillate and the diagnosis does not persist. One survey of parental reports has clearly indicated that there are distinct patterns of dysfunction above and beyond "normal" adolescence, that offspring who develop BPD have a completely distinct adolescence from their siblings without BPD, and that adolescent manifestations of the full disorder are common.