Peer support for borderline personality disorder: A critical review of its feasibility, acceptability, and alignment with concepts of recovery.

Abstract

Many organizations have adopted peer support to increase service alignment with recovery-oriented principles. Yet, few studies have scrutinized borderline personality disorder (BPD)-specific concepts of "recovery" and "recovery-oriented practice," nor evaluated the extent to which existing peer support services (PSS) align with these concepts. We addressed these knowledge gaps in four phases: (a) a literature review to understand BPD-specific concepts of "recovery" and "recovery-oriented practice," (b) a literature review and open web search to describe the implementation, feasibility, or effectiveness of PSS for people with BPD, (c) a landscaping survey of program administrators regarding their BPD-PSS programs, and (d) a critical review of the extent to which current peer support for BPD aligns with "recovery" and "recoveryoriented practice." We identified 40 published sources that defined "recovery" or "recovery-oriented practice" as it pertains to BPD, and narratively summarize these results, nine sources that described PSS for people with BPD, and received survey responses from seven BPD-PSS program administrators. Our critical review highlighted the distinctive but overlapping concepts of "clinical recovery" versus "personal recovery" and underscored the alignment of BPD-PSS with personal recovery goals, including increased self-knowledge and -acceptance, hope, engagement in meaningful social roles and relationships, and self-determination. While peer support is experienced positively by service users, peer supporters, and clinicians, challenges include setting boundaries, minimizing dual roles, and ensuring adequate training, supervision, and personal support to reduce burnout. Peer support appears to be a feasible avenue for meeting the personal recovery goals of people with BPD; however, formal program evaluations are needed.