Treatment services

In 2012, the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) developed a Clinical Practice Guideline for the Management of Borderline Personality Disorder (PDF, 1.5MB)  that seeks to improve understanding and recognition of BPD in health services and the community. It also aims to assist health professionals diagnose, treat, and manage BPD in adolescents and adults.

This Australian guideline was developed by a multi-disciplinary Guideline Development Committee comprising clinical, consumer and carer representatives with BPD expertise. The guideline discusses a range of treatment options, including 63 recommendations covering diagnosis, management, treatment and information for supporting carers and families.

Project Air Strategy for Personality Disorders — Illawarra Health and Medical Research Institute (IHMRI) in NSW has also developed a number of guidelines:

• Project Air Strategy Treatment Guidelines for Personality Disorders (2015) Aims to assist services and practitioners working with personality disorders.
• Project Air Strategy Brief Intervention Manual (2015) Assists services and practitioners implement an integrative relational step-down model of care. It helps to plan care, manage clients in crisis, deliver brief interventions, and connect with carers.
• Project Air Strategy Parenting with Personality Disorder Intervention (2015) This manual is designed for mental health clinicians to help them work effectively with parents or caregivers who have a personality disorder.
• Project Air Strategy Family, Partner and Carer Intervention Manual for Personality Disorders (2016) This resource is designed for those working with families, partners and carers of people with personality disorder, emerging personality disorder, or personality disorder symptoms or traits.
• Project Air Strategy Schools, Teachers & Students (2016). This resource provides education staff with information and tools to identify and respond to young people who are experiencing emerging symptoms of personality disorder, including self-harm. This evidence-based approach promotes early intervention within the school environment.

Studies show that therapy given by a person trained in treating BPD and guided by the National Practice Guidelines can be just as effective as one of the trademarked therapies mentioned above, providing it incorporates the Common Factors of Effective Therapy.