Disclosure of a Diagnosis of Borderline Personality Disorder

Abstract

There are compelling reasons to make the diagnosis the subject of open examination and discussion between clinician and patient, and reasons to believe that disclosure would serve to advance the patient in his or her recovery.

Assessment and Treatment of Patients with Borderline Personality Disorder in the College and University Population

“…In general psychiatry outpatient programs, studies have indicated that clinicians are reluctant to make a diagnosis of BPD in routine interviews, with significantly higher yields for personality disorders including BPD when structured interviews are performed (Paris, 2007;Zimmerman & Mattia, 1999). Though it is rare these days, clinicians in college and university mental health settings, meanwhile, face several possible obstacles in the accurate assessment and treatment of BPD in the student population (Hersh, 2008;LeQuesne & Hersh, 2004). Clinicians who are either unfamiliar with personality disorder diagnoses or who have orientations which do not include personality disorder diagnoses (e.g., clinicians who conceptualize personality disorders as undiagnosed primary mood disorders or clinicians who do not use standard descriptive psychiatric terminology, e.g., labeling students simply as "rejection sensitive" or "a cutter") may overlook the borderline diagnosis.…”

Diagnosing borderline personality disorder

“…20,58 Informing patients may also help to prevent misunderstandings about the diagnosis and to avoid improper treatments in the future.…”

Queen of the Owls: Metaphor and Identity in Psychiatric Diagnosis

“…Lequesne and Hersh (2004), in their review of the literature on the advantages and disadvantages of disclosing a diagnosis of borderline personality disorder to the client, note that this diagnosis is often withheld due to concern about the potential for distress, as well as transference/countertransference issues common in the treatment of these patients. In contrast, diagnoses of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and Asperger's syndrome are often shared with patients as a way to help them manage their lives (Huws & Jones, 2008).…”