Project description:Borderline personality disorder (BPD) patients, when in crisis, are frequent visitors of emergency departments (EDs). When these patients exhibit symptoms such as aggressiveness, impulsivity, intense anxiety, severe depression, self-harm, and suicidal attempts or gestures, diagnosis, and treatment of the BPD becomes challenging for ED doctors. This review will, therefore, outline advice to physicians and health-care providers who face this challenging patient population in the EDs. Crisis intervention should be the first objective of clinicians when dealing with BPD in the emergency. For the patients with agitation, symptom-specific pharmacotherapy is usually recommended, while for non-agitated patients, short but intensive psychotherapy especially dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) has a positive effect. Although various psychotherapies, either alone or integrated, are preferred modes of treatment for this group of patients, the effects of psychotherapies on BPD outcomes are small to medium. Proper risk management along with developing a positive attitude and empathy toward these patients will help them in normalizing in an emergency setting after which treatment course can be decided.
Project description:Borderline personality disorder is a chronic psychiatric disorder characterized by marked impulsivity, instability of mood and interpersonal relationships, and suicidal behaviour that can complicate medical care. Identifying this diagnosis is important for treatment planning. Although the cause of borderline personality disorder is uncertain, most patients improve with time. There is an evidence base for treatment using both psychotherapy and psychopharmacology. The clinical challenge centres on managing chronic suicidality.
Project description:BackgroundPrevious research has emphasized the importance of therapists giving Routine Outcome Monitoring (ROM) feedback to their patients. It has been shown that several factors influence therapists' tendency to provide ROM feedback to their patients.MethodsIn this qualitative study, using a semi-structured interview followed by thematic analysis using Atlas.ti, we focused on experiences of therapists and patients with a disorder specific ROM instrument: the Borderline Personality Disorder Severity Index-IV (BPDSI-IV). Ten patients with a borderline personality disorder who had been in Mentalization Based Treatment (MBT) and ten MBT-therapists treating patients with a borderline personality disorder were interviewed.ResultsQualitative analysis revealed that patients experienced benefits of ROM using the BPDSI-IV. Patients gained more insight in and recognition of their borderline personality disorder symptoms. They also felt more understood by the therapist because they got an opportunity to explain their symptoms in a different way than in a regular therapy session. Therapists shared they didn't always use all the ROM outcomes as serious feedback for adjusting treatment. They preferred to use the BPDSI-IV over the other ROM instruments, because the BPDSI-IV is disorder specific, which gives insight into the treatment course of the patient.ConclusionsExperiences of both patients and therapists with the BPDSI-IV were positive. It seems to be valuable and promising for healthcare institutions to evaluate treatment with a disorder specific ROM instrument.
Project description:Principlism is the dominant ethical theory in modern medicine. Autonomy is 'king' of the principles espoused and operationalised in consent. Consent is the mechanism by which all medical interactions occur. In borderline personality disorder (BPD) there is often a diffuse sense of self, emotional instability and impulsivity that can lead to medically dangerous non-suicidal self-injury, acute medical intervention and then a withdrawal of consent while the potential threat to the person's well-being remains high. Claims of lack of capacity lack veracity, and simply acting against the patient's will may be illegal. Understanding the will and preferences of patients is a step forward, but it is not always possible in time-sensitive situations. A cautious paternalism is therefore warranted both to ensure the patient's well-being while being honest as to the reasons for this, and to possibly build epistemic trust between the medical system and the patient with BPD.
Project description:BackgroundPatient perspectives of living with borderline personality disorder (BPD) are not traditionally captured in the literature. To overcome this gap, we explored participants' experiences with BPD to gain a better understanding of symptoms and impacts related to the condition.MethodsTwo experienced researchers conducted semistructured interviews with a subset of participants from a randomized controlled trial evaluating a BPD treatment. The interview study was independent from the trial. Interviews focused on participants' experiences with BPD prior to the trial, including the symptoms and impacts of BPD. Interview transcripts were analyzed to identify dominant trends and generate patterns in the way participants described their experiences with BPD.ResultsA total of 50 adults with BPD participated in the interview study. The mean age of the participants was 28.5 years (range, 18-53 years) and 72.0% were female. All participants described having difficulties with extreme emotional responses and interpersonal relationships, and most participants reported experiencing issues with self-image, impulsivity, suspiciousness/distrust, feelings of emptiness, and anger. The symptoms that were most bothersome to participants were extreme moods or emotional responses and a pattern of unstable personal relationships. All participants remarked that their BPD-related symptoms negatively impacted their interpersonal relationships, and nearly two-thirds of the sample reported that the impact of BPD on their relationships was the most bothersome. Additionally, more than half of the participants discussed impacts on work or school, memory or thinking, self-care, and financial and legal issues.ConclusionParticipants reported that the most bothersome symptoms of BPD were those related to extreme moods or emotional responses and interpersonal relationships. Participants similarly described the impact of BPD on their interpersonal relationships as the most bothersome. Overall, participant perspectives from this study indicate that the burden of BPD is significant and new treatments tailored to patients' real-world needs are warranted.
Project description:IntroductionClinicians caring for adults with borderline personality disorder (BPD) in acute settings such as the emergency department (ED) have little evidence/guidance to base decisions on. Specific/detailed guidance for managing BPD in the ED is needed given the morbidity and mortality risks, high service utilisation, unique challenges and risk of iatrogenic interventions. The primary objective of this study is to use a consensus method to develop a guideline for managing adults with BPD in the ED. This protocol and the key questions for the guideline were developed with the advice of people with BPD and their family members/support persons.Methods and analysisWe will perform a four-phase Delphi study of an expert panel of clinicians, researchers, adults with BPD and their family members/support persons. Various disciplines (psychiatry, psychology, emergency medicine, nursing, social work) and treatment approaches will be included in the expert panel. An online questionnaire will be developed from systematic reviews, qualitative assessments of pivotal literature, and opinions suggested by the panel (phase 1). The panel will rate their agreement on opinions for each key question covering areas of emergency care of adults with BPD using two rounds of this questionnaire (phases 2 and 3). Opinions meeting predefined thresholds for consensus will be brought to consensus meetings moderated by an independent chair (phase 4). The purpose of these meetings is to finalise the set and phrasing of the opinions for each area of emergency care. These final opinions will be the recommendations in the guideline. If there are significant differences of opinion, the guideline will present both recommendations alongside one another.Ethics and disseminationThis study has received ethics approval by the Hamilton Integrated Research Ethics Board in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The results of this study will be disseminated through peer-reviewed publications, conferences and national professional and patient/family/support associations.
Project description:Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a complex psychiatric disease with an increased impact in the last years. While the diagnosis and therapy are well established, little is known on the pathogenesis of borderline personality disorder. Previously, a significant increase in DNA methylation of relevant neuropsychiatric genes in BPD patients has been reported. In our study we performed genome wide methylation analysis and revealed specific CpG sites that exhibited increased methylation in 26 BPD patients compared to 11 healthy controls. Bead chip technology and quantitative bisulfite pyrosequencing showed a significantly increased methylation at CpG sites of APBA2 (1.1 fold) and APBA3 (1.1 fold), KCNQ1 (1.6 fold), MCF2 (1.1 fold) and NINJ2 (1.2 fold) in BPD patients. For the CpG sites of GATA4 an increase in DNA methylation was observed, but was only significant in the bead chip assay. Moreover genome wide methylation levels of blood samples of BPD patients and control samples are similar. In summary, our results show a significant 1.26 fold average increase in methylation at the analyzed gene associated CpG sites in the blood of BPD patients compared to controls samples (p<0.001). This data may provide new insights into epigenetic mechanisms underlying the pathogenesis of BPD.
Project description:Purpose of reviewVariation in the monoamine oxidase A (MAO-A) gene and MAO-A enzyme levels have been linked to antisocial behavior and aggression in clinical and non-clinical populations. Here, we provide an overview of the genetic, epigenetic, and neuroimaging research that has examined MAO-A structure and function in antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) and borderline personality disorder (BPD).Recent findingsThe low-activity MAO-A variable nucleotide tandem repeat genetic polymorphism has shown a robust association with large samples of violent and seriously violent offenders, many of whom had ASPD. A recent positron emission tomography (PET) study of ASPD similarly revealed low MAO-A density in brain regions thought to contribute to the psychopathology of the condition. By contrast, PET has also demonstrated that brain MAO-A levels are increased in BPD and that they relate to symptoms of low mood and suicidality.SummaryCandidate gene studies have produced the most compelling evidence connecting MAO-A genetic variants to both ASPD and BPD. Still, conflicting results abound in the literature, making it highly unlikely that ASPD or BPD is related to a specific MAO-A genetic variant. Future research should strive to examine how MAO-A genotypes interact with broad-spectrum environmental influences to produce brain endophenotypes that may ultimately become tractable targets for novel treatment strategies.