Patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD) may presentwith ''psychotic'' phenomena, which can be defined as a range of specified ''altered experiences of reality.'' This study investigated the associations between self-reported past psychotic phenomena and features of DSM-III-R personality disorders (PDs) in 57 inpatients without a previous diagnosis of the main disorders that involve delusions and hallucinations. The present findings include associations between past psychotic phenomena and features of BPD, between repeated self-harm and a report that ''thoughts seemed put into head,'' and between psychotic phenomena and features of other PDs, particularly schizotypal PD. There was a high prevalence of BPD in the present sample. Dissociation, in the context of the features of BPD, may be a causal factor for the development of some of the psychotic phenomena presented by patients with PD.