Sexual acting-out in borderline women: Impulsive self-destructiveness or sexual addiction/compulsivity?

Abstract

This article examines the nature of sexual behaviors in women who have been diagnosed with borderline personality disorder. The authors contend that the presence of borderline personality disorder is often overlooked in sexually addictive/compulsive women and that, similarly, the presence of sexual addiction/com-pulsivity is not diagnosed in populations of borderline women. They propose a model of the differential diagnostic features among three groups: sexually addictive/compulsives, sexually addictive/ compulsive borderlines, and nonsexually addictive/compulsive borderlines who sexually act-out. These distinctions are important for careful treatment planning. Two case studies are compared as examples of these differences.