The present study investigated the treatment experience of nine individuals with concomitant psychotic and borderline personality disorders. Given the paucity of research on the experience of this population, the goal was to explore pathways to care, transitions between services and general perception of treatments using a qualitative methodology. A semi-structured interview schedule was administered to each participant, who was referred by participating psychiatrists in each program. Transcripts were coded using a mixed open and closed coding procedure and QDA Miner 3.2.3 analysis software. Results found that participants did not dichotomise their experience into all-good or all-bad categories, but gave nuanced accounts of their treatment. Each participant described several pathways to care that explained their entry into specific treatments, with only coercion negatively impacting treatment experience. Many transitions were described, though only those who were coerced experienced these negatively. The key factor that participants highlighted in their treatment experience was the clinician/participant relationship. A positive relationship permitted participants to trust and receive help from their clinician. Limits include the possible bias of the recruitment procedure and the limited scope of the study. This understanding of the perspective of these individuals can lead to promoting better treatment experiences in the future.
IntroductionThere is a paucity of research on the co-occurrence of psychosis and borderline personality disorder (BPD) (Kingdon et al., 2010). Despite the controversy surrounding the existence of individuals with both a psychotic disorder and BPD, the literature consistently finds a prevalence of 10-20% of individuals with a psychotic disorder also having a BPD diagnosis, and a similar prevalence of individuals with BPD meeting the symptomatic criteria for an Axis I psychotic disorder, (Coid et al.,
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.