Therapeutic difficulties in management of the patient with anorexia nervosa and comorbid borderline personality disorder - case study

Aim: This case report addresses some clinical challenges occurring throughout the therapeutic process of specialized management and treatment of anorexia nervosa with comorbid borderline personality disorder.

Materials and method: Clinical examinations and measures - Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV (SCID-II), Eating Attitudes Test (EAT-26), Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale modified for Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD-YBOCS), Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II), Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20), and State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) have been employed to identify the nature and severity of patient's psychopathology and its potential change throughout the therapeutic process.

Results: Despite some improvement in the symptoms of the eating disorder following treatment, some other measures of psychopathology (e.g., depression) remained at similar level. Discussion: Management of AN with comorbid BPD requires a comprehensive care package including integrative psychotherapy, nutritional interventions and pharmacotherapy at an inpatient setting as well as follow-up care thereafter.

Conclusions: Only partial improvement in the profile of F.C.'s psychopathology was observed.