Introducing the Borderline Personality Disorder Inventory

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Borderline personality disorder (BPD) remains one of the most commonly misunderstood and challenging diagnoses in mental health. Despite its clinical significance, few assessment tools exist that reflect the complex intrapsychic reality of borderline pathology as it presents in everyday practice. Most instruments are grounded in behavioral checklists or symptom counts, often missing the deeper dynamics that psychodynamic clinicians recognize in their work.

To help bridge this gap, I am pleased to introduce the Borderline Personality Disorder Inventory (BPD-I™)—a brief, clinically-derived, psychodynamically-informed screening tool designed for use by psychiatrists, psychologists, and psychotherapists in evaluating the possible presence of BPD.

What Is the BPD-I™?

The BPD-I™ is a 25-item yes/no questionnaire that screens for core features of BPD. It was developed in response to the growing need for a brief tool that reflects a deeper, psychodynamic understanding of borderline personality—one that goes beyond surface behaviors to capture themes such as identity diffusion, splitting, and interpersonal hypersensitivity.

While it is not a diagnostic test and cannot replace a full diagnostic evaluation, the BPD-I™ offers clinicians a way to quickly assess for borderline symptoms in a manner that aligns with psychodynamic theory and practice. It is particularly useful as an adjunct to clinical interviews or when deciding whether to pursue a more in-depth personality assessment.

A Tool for the Clinician's Desk

Unlike many tools that are rooted solely in DSM symptom clusters or factor-analytic models, the BPD-I™ was constructed from a clinical standpoint, drawing upon the extensive psychodynamic literature on BPD. Its development was informed by ongoing consultation with an international group of mental health professionals, including psychoanalysts, psychiatrists, clinical psychologists, and psychometricians.

Although empirical validation is forthcoming, the BPD-I™ was designed with clinical sensibility in mind, and its utility lies in its ability to flag potential cases of BPD for further evaluation—not to provide formal diagnosis.

Practical, Free, and Open Access

The BPD-I™ is freely available for clinical use, education, and research, with appropriate attribution. Instructions for administration, scoring, and interpretation are provided on the inventory. The format is simple, the language accessible, and its brevity makes it easy to incorporate into routine assessments.

I invite you to explore the BPD-I™ and consider how it might complement your existing assessment practices. As with any tool, its results are best understood within the broader context of a comprehensive evaluation, clinical judgment, and therapeutic work.

You can download the BPD-I™ here. Feedback from clinicians and researchers is welcome as I continue to refine and validate the instrument.

Dr Ruffalo is an assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Central Florida College of Medicine in Orlando and adjunct assistant professor of psychiatry at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston, Massachusetts. He developed, with Ronald Pies, MD, the Psychopathology Refracted into Seven Modalities (PRiSM) psychiatric diagnostic instrument.