Borderline Personality Disorder in Japan: A Comparative Study of Three Diagnostic Criteria

The concept of borderline personalities was first introduced into Japan in 1956. Japanese researchers and clinicians have since utilized the concept in studies of psychotherapy, psychopathology, psychological testing, and clinicogenetics. These studies have most often been published in the Japanese literature and are not widely known outside Japan. This paper reviews Japanese work concerned with the borderline concept and presents results from a study comparing three criteria sets (those of DSM-III Axis II, Kernberg, and Gunderson) in a Japanese sample. The similarities and dissimilarities of these three diagnostic systems and the factors that might affect a cross-cultural study are discussed. The three criteria sets all identified groups of patients who, despite cultural differences, appear to manifest characteristic behaviors that satisfied the Western definitions of a borderline disorder.