Agresividad y delictología en el Trastorno límite de personalidad

Resumen

Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is the most frequently diagnosed personality disorder in modern clinical practice. It is mainly characterized by significant emotional instability and lack of control of impulses and of interpersonal relationships. In this study, the scientific literature on the aggressive impulsive behavioral manifestations observed in these patients was reviewed. First, findings about the biological foundations of human aggressiveness are illustrated to subsequently relate them to explanatory findings about the biological base of BPD, and to reach conclusions about the coincidences noted between both groups of research. There is consensus about the neurobiological bases that explain the aggressive and impulsive behavior of people with BPD. These data could have important consequences for forensic psychology; therefore, the literature on the responsibility for transgressions imputable to these people and on the way that various forensic experts appraise their imputableness was also reviewed. The article concludes with an analysis of verdicts taken from the Penal Jurisdiction of Spanish Courts of Justice, in order to obtain data to contrast with the review carried out. The data correspond to that obtained previously, finding a significant presence of violent transgressions imputable to individuals with BPD, especially males, and the consideration that this disorder produces an important loss of volitional ability and, in some cases, even cognitive capacity, which biases the imputableness attributable to these individuals.