Parental perceptions of thirteen patients with DSM III-R borderline personality disorder (BPD) and thirteen without BPD were investigated in video-recorded interviews. The interview records of multifacet parental experiences were reviewed and rated independently by three psychiatrists, blinded to the diagnostic information, on 4-point Likert scale (0-3) on three items of each parent: care, overprotection and neglect and/or hostility on the descriptive basis. The major finding was that BPD patients perceived both parents as less caring and more neglecting and/or hostile than patients without BPD. This finding reflects BPD patients' troubled relationship with their parents and the biparental failure hypothesis in the development of BPD.