Psychotic experiences and suicide attempt risk in common mental disorders and borderline personality disorder

<jats:sec><jats:title>Objective</jats:title><jats:p>Recent research has demonstrated a strong relationship between psychotic experiences and suicidal behaviour. No research to date, however, has investigated the role of borderline personality disorder (<jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">BPD</jats:styled-content>) in this relationship, despite the fact that <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">BPD</jats:styled-content> is highly comorbid with common mental disorders and is associated with both recurrent suicidal behaviour and psychotic experiences. This paper examined the relationship between psychotic experiences and suicide attempts, including interrelationships with <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">BPD</jats:styled-content> and common mental disorders.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Method</jats:title><jats:p>We used the 2007 Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Study, a stratified, multistage probability sample of households in England, which recruited a nationally representative sample aged 16 years and older. Participants were assessed for common mental disorders, <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">BPD</jats:styled-content> (clinical and subclinical), suicidal behaviour, and psychotic experiences.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results</jats:title><jats:p>Approximately 4% of the total sample (<jats:italic>n</jats:italic> = 323) reported psychotic experiences. Psychotic experiences were associated with increased odds of suicide attempts in individuals with <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">BPD</jats:styled-content> (<jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">OR</jats:styled-content> = 2.23, 95% <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">CI</jats:styled-content> = 1.03–4.85), individuals with a common mental disorder (<jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">OR</jats:styled-content> = 2.47, 95% <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">CI</jats:styled-content> = 1.37–4.43), individuals without a common mental disorder (<jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">OR</jats:styled-content> = 3.99, 95% <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">CI</jats:styled-content> = 2.47–6.43), and individuals with neither a common mental disorder nor <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">BPD</jats:styled-content> (<jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">OR</jats:styled-content> = 3.20, 95% <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">CI</jats:styled-content> = 1.71–5.98).</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Conclusion</jats:title><jats:p>Psychotic experiences are associated with high odds of suicidal behaviour in individuals with and without psychopathology. This relationship is not explained by clinical or subclinical <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">BPD</jats:styled-content>.</jats:p></jats:sec>