Borderline personality disorder: A review and reformulation from evolutionary theory

SummaryA number of authors have provided a useful evolutionary perspective on personality disorders, arguing that personality traits can be conceptualized in terms of evolutionary strategies. If we consider personality traits not as illnesses but as stable evolutionary strategies, the characteristic features of borderline personality disorder may respond to a behavioral pattern which, although deviating from the norm, would be in the service of survival of the species. Early environments involving factors such as childhood physical/sexual abuse may prove useful for explanation of personality traits based on gene-environment interaction, potentially providing a model for understanding borderline personality traits. We also review the question of whether personality traits exist in animals to also provide a translational perspective. We propose that certain traits in borderline personality disorder may derive from evolved mechanisms which in the short-term serve to help respond to adversity, but which when activated in an ongoing way prove maladaptive.