This study focuses on the relationship between verbal abuse and Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD), marked in literature only by some authors. The clinical history of an adult female patient diagnosed with BPD was examined to identify the presence of this type of maltreatment across her lifespan. A multi-instrumental assessment was carried out and verbal abuse in the parental communications was evaluated through a newly developed questionnaire. Results show the presence of verbal abuse, perpetrated by both the parental figures: the patient’s mother, overinvolved in a symbiotic bond with her daughter, tends to humiliate and to blame her, while her father, completely emotionally absent, expresses disapproval or mainly communicates indifference and rejection. However, further confirmatory studies are required.
Keywords: Verbal abuse, Borderline Personality Disorder, lifespan, multi-instrumental assessment.