Objective: Residential patients diagnosed with borderline personality disorder were evaluated to determine whether borderline personality disorder-focused psychotherapy reduced prescribing, personality disorder and co-morbid symptom severity. Method: Psychotropic prescriptions were measured at admission, discharge and 1 year later in 74 female participants with one or more personality disorder diagnosis and co-morbid mood disorders. Changes in pharmacotherapy were examined in the context of improvements in borderline personality disorder and/or co-morbid disorder symptom severity. Residential treatment included individual and group psychotherapy for borderline personality disorder. The Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV was used to confirm the borderline personality disorder diagnosis and associated co-morbid conditions. The Beck Depression Inventory was completed at each time point. Results: A significant reduction in the incidence and severity of self-rated depression as well as clinician assessed personality disorder, including borderline personality disorder, was accompanied by a reduction in prescription of psychoactive medications. Conclusions: Three to six months of intensive borderline personality disorder-specific psychotherapy showed lasting benefit with regard to symptom severity of personality disorders (borderline personality disorder in particular) as well as depressive symptoms. This improvement corresponded with a reduction in prescriptions for psychoactive medications, which is consistent with current thinking regarding treatment for borderline personality disorder.
Borderline Personality Disorder Symptom Severity and Sexually Transmitted Infection and HIV Risk in African American Incarcerated Men
