Vomiting as a manifestation of borderline personality disorder in primary care.

BACKGROUND

Patients with borderline personality disorder often are found and treated in psychiatric settings following episodes of self-mutilation, such as wrist-slashing. Family physicians care for many patients with borderline personality disorder, but in primary care settings wrist-slashing or other physical mutilation is a less common presenting problem. Frequently these patients complain of such symptoms as nausea and vomiting that do not so obviously suggest psychopathology.

METHODS

Three primary care patients with borderline personality disorder in whom episodic vomiting was the chief complaint are presented. Hypotheses from the literature about the neurobiology of vomiting and self-mutilation are discussed.

RESULTS

Vomiting is a primary care analogue of self-mutilation in some patients with borderline personality disorder.

CONCLUSIONS

Family physicians should include careful history taking to corroborate other features of borderline personality disorder in evaluating patients with persistent, episodic vomiting. Obtaining a history of early sexual abuse or chronic interpersonal problems as an adult should not only mitigate the compulsion for extensive, costly, and invasive gastrointestinal system evaluations in such patients, but also suggest more effective treatment strategies.