Oligodipsia and dissociative experiences in borderline personality disorder.

Objective: To test the frequency of attenuated fluid intake behavior (oligodipsia) in patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD) and to test if there is an inverse correlation between oligodipsia and the intensity of current dissociative experience in a pilot study.

Method: Analyses were based on a sample of 15 BPD patients and 15 healthy controls. Fluid intake per diem and intensity of dissociative experience were measured by standardized self-reports daily for 7 days.

Results: The BPD patients ingested a significantly lower fluid volume per diem when compared with healthy controls (P < 0.001). We found a strong correlation between intensity of co-occurring dissociative experience and fluid intake or urine osmolality (r = 0.762 and 0.665), independently of sleep quality and general BPD symptom severity.

Conclusion: The results indicate that oligodipsia may constitute a serious problem at least for a subgroup of BPD patients, and may be correlated with some of the most problematic symptoms of BPD.