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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Psychiatry
Sec. Autism
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1443365

Autistic traits as predictors of post-traumatic stress symptoms among patients with borderline personality disorder

Provisionally accepted
Barbara Carpita Barbara Carpita Chiara Bonelli Chiara Bonelli *Vincenzo Schifanella Vincenzo Schifanella Benedetta Nardi Benedetta Nardi Giulia Amatori Giulia Amatori Gabriele Massimetti Gabriele Massimetti Ivan Mirko Cremone Ivan Mirko Cremone Stefano Pini Stefano Pini Liliana Dell'osso Liliana Dell'osso
  • University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Background: Autistic traits seem to be particularly frequent among patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD). Moreover, the autism spectrum is considered a vulnerability factor for the development of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, increasing the vulnerability of BPD subjects towards the development of a stress-related disorder.Aim: the study aimed to investigate the association between AT and trauma-related symptoms in a clinical sample of patients with BPD.Methods: 48 patients with a clinical diagnosis of BPD and 52 healthy control (HC) subjects were recruited and assessed with the Adult Autism Subthreshold Spectrum Self Report (AdAS Spectrum) questionnaire and the Trauma and Loss Spectrum -Self Report questionnaire (TALS -SR). The BPD group was divided into two subgroups: BPD with a symptomatological diagnosis of PTSD (pBPD=25) and BPD not diagnosed with PTSD (No-pBPD=23).The clinical sample scored significantly higher in almost all AdAS domains. Moreover, pBPD groups reported higher AdAS and TALS-SR scores in the total and in various domains than the No-pBPD group, which scored higher in several domains than HC. AdAS Restricted interests and rumination domain scores were positive predictors of BPD presence independently from PTSD, while Inflexibility and adherence to routine domain was a negative predictor.Finally, AdASHyper/hyporeactivity to sensory stimuli domain was a positive predictor only for inclusion in the pBPD group.Conclusion: our study confirmed the existence of a statistically significant relationship between the autism spectrum and BPD, while BPD subjects diagnosed with PTSD seem to show a higher autism spectrum burden.

    Keywords: Autism Spectrum Disorder, Autistic Traits, Borderline Personality Disorder, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Conceptualization, L.D, B.C., methodology, L.D., B.C., investigation, C.B., B.N., V.S., resources, L.D., B.C., G.A., data curation, B.C., C.B., B.N., writing-original draft preparation, C.B., V.S., writing-review and editing, L.D., B.C., G.A., I.M.C., S.P., visualization, L.D. B.C.

    Received: 03 Jun 2024; Accepted: 30 Jul 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Carpita, Bonelli, Schifanella, Nardi, Amatori, Massimetti, Cremone, Pini and Dell'osso. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Chiara Bonelli, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy

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