Sexual Impulsivity in Women Diagnosed With Borderline Personality Disorder: A Review of the Literature

Abstract

Women affected by borderline personality disorder (BPD) are at heightened risk for engaging in sexually impulsive high-risk behaviors, rendering them vulnerable to a wide range of physical health maladies, including sexually transmitted infections and Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (HIV/AIDS). While the majority of existing studies have focused on impulsivity in general, we sought to describe and extrapolate findings to sexual impulsivity in particular. Neurocognitive factors have been demonstrated to contribute to decision-making and engaging in high-risk impulsive sexual behaviors among populations with BPD, but the mechanisms underlying these associations have received less clinical attention in recent years. Thus, this article provides a review of select empirical findings using Marsha Linehan's biosocial theory as the foundational framework in order to synthesize information from disparate fields to present a cohesive understanding of mechanisms underlying the impulsive sexual behaviors associated with BPD.