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Childhood Trauma, Borderline Personality Symptomatology, and Psychophysiological and Pain Disorders in Adulthood

Received March 25, 2005; revised July 12, 2005; accepted August 9, 2005. From the Depts. of Psychiatry and Internal Medicine, Wright State University School of Medicine, Dayton, OH; Kettering Medical Center, Kettering, OH; and the Clinical Psychology Program, Kent State University, Kent, OH. Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. Sansone, Sycamore Primary Care Center, 2115 Leiter Rd., Miamisburg, OH 45342. e-mail: Randy.sansone{at}kmcnetwork.org

In the empirical literature, there is support for the idea of a relationship between childhood trauma and various psychophysiological as well as pain disorders, and between borderline personality symptomatology and somatic preoccupation, as well as chronic pain. However, to date, no single study has examined the relationships between childhood trauma and borderline personality symptomatology, and the number of psychophysiological and pain disorders in adulthood. In this study, the authors examined these relationships and found no significant correlation between borderline personality symptomatology and the number of psychophysiological and pain disorders. However, there were positive and significant correlations between childhood physical abuse, emotional abuse, and witnessing violence and the number of psychophysiological and pain disorders in adulthood. Using hierarchical-regression analyses to determine which specific childhood traumas significantly predicted the number of psychophysiological and pain disorders, only witnessing violence emerged, accounting for 12% of the variance. These data suggest that a general factor associated with various forms of trauma predicts number of psychophysiological and pain disorders and that a specific predictor may be witnessing violence in childhood.

Key Words: Childhood Trauma • Pain Disorders • Personality Disorders

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