Life events, motives, and precipitating factors in parasuicide among borderline patients.

The high prevalence of borderline personality disorder in parasuicide raises the question whether there are differences in motives, precipitating factors, and life events as compared to other clinical groups. Consecutive hospital admitted parasuicide patients were therefore investigated for personality disorders by a structured clinical interview (SCID-II), a structured interview concerning precipitating factors and a self-report questionnaire on motives and life events. Out of a total of 64 patients, 55% met the criteria for a borderline personality disorder. While the parasuicidal motives and precipitating factors did not differ between the borderline group and the others, the borderline group reported significantly more adverse life events. Our findings suggest that the overrepresentation of borderline personality disorder in parasuicide might be related to accumulated adverse life events rather than to manipulative motives.