**7. Bulimia nervosa and borderline personality disorder**

It seems to have a consensus on the fact that borderline personality disorder (BPD) is the most characteristic in patients with eating disorders, mainly in those with bulimia nervosa with a range of prevalence between 2%-50%. Such a wide range has lead to state that there might be a conceptual confusion between BPD and bulimia nervosa, due to the frequent overlap of their symptoms. With regards to anorexia nervosa, this BPD is more frequent in the purging-type. Different behaviours, which are frequent among bulimic patients (e.g., impulsivity, lack of control, self-harm), also are common in the BPD, this suggesting the possible conceptual confusion between the two disorders.

The presence of BPD in bulimic patients causes a poor prognostic, and this BPD has been mainly related to the presence of purging behaviours (bulimia nervosa and anorexia nervosa purging-type) (Gargallo, Fernández Aranda, et al., 2003).

## **7.1 Main facts with regards to the association between bulimia nervosa and BPD**

