SANE in partnership with the National Mental Health Commission is pleased to share a new research report: Understanding how best to respond to the needs of Australians living with personality disorder.
The report includes a literature review, an environmental scan and a qualitative study and describes:
- What is known about the prevalence of personality disorders in Australia, including the percentage of people presenting to emergency departments living with personality disorder.
- Reviewing evidence-based treatments for personality disorder.
- The barriers faced by Australians living with personality disorder in accessing a level of care sufficient to meet their needs.
- How people living with personality disorders are impacted by stigma and discrimination
The report puts forward a number of recommendations to improve mental health care and access to support for people affected by personality disorder.
These include a need to:
- Conduct a national survey to identify current prevalence of personality disorder in Australia, providing an update to the 1997 figures.
- Fund further research into treatments for personality disorder other than borderline personality disorder and research that fills knowledge gaps for BPD and other disorders.
- Obtain national commitment to establish and disseminate existing evidence-based clinical guidelines for the management of BPD.
- Establishing consistent training and treatment standards to better prepare clinicians to work with personality disorder in an evidence-based and trauma informed way.
- Take action toward redesigning the mental health system with a focus on efforts to streamline pathways, improve access and reduce financial burden on individuals.
- Implement strategies to shift assumptions from health professionals that individuals with BPD cannot benefit from psychotherapy.
Read or download the report below:
Understanding how best to respond to the needs of Australians living with personality disorder (PDF, 967KB)
Treatment and support for personality disorder (summary) (PDF, 513KB)