Follow the money: Is borderline personality disorder research underfunded in Canada?

Abstract

Although borderline personality disorder (BPD) is prevalent, highly lethal, and involves comparable or elevated distress, societal burden, and mortality to several other mental health conditions, studies suggest that BPD research is underfunded by granting agencies in the United States. However, it remains unclear whether BPD research is similarly underfunded in Canada, especially when compared with a number of disorders with similar prevalence and lethality rates. The present study, therefore, examined whether BPD may be underfunded in Canada compared to disorders of similar lethality and prevalence (i.e., bipolar disorder, psychotic disorders, eating disorders). The Canadian Institute for Health Research funding database was searched to identify all grants funded by Canadian Institute for Health Research between 1999 and 2022 with terms related to the above mental health conditions. Coders then identified whether the grants focused on BPD, bipolar disorder, psychosis, eating disorders, or none of these populations. Results indicated that both BPD and eating disorder research received fewer funded grants than bipolar disorder and psychosis research across 23 years of funding and in the past 7 years specifically. These populations also received less total grant dollars than bipolar disorder and psychosis research across 23 years of funding and psychosis research in the past 7 years specifically. BPD and eating disorder research may be underfunded in Canada, but grants for this work may also be under sought by researchers. Efforts to destigmatize these populations to encourage scholars to study them, and grant reviewers to recognize the need and impact of research on them, are needed.