Abstract
The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between trajectories of functional impairment and clinical symptoms, specifically posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and borderline personality disorder (BPD), for those in treatment and those not. Factors that were expected to be related to better, worse, or unrelated to treatment trajectories were also of interest. Participants (N = 118) were women aged 19-66 living in the United States who had experienced a sexual assault and endorsed some borderline personality disorder (BPD) traits. Participants completed symptom scales for PTSD and BPD and sexual assault functional impairment once a week for 11 weeks and their responses were analyzed through Latent Growth Curve Modeling. Results showed poor model fit, but indicated that those in treatment had greatest decreases in PTSD symptoms, followed by BPD symptoms, and finally that functional impairment remained relatively stable. For those not in treatment all outcomes worsened. Regarding predictors of treatment outcome there were no differences noted across all outcomes. This study adds to the literature by providing evidence that current treatments do not adequately target functional impairment.