Psychiatr. praxi. 2020;21(3):149-153 | DOI: 10.36290/psy.2020.026

Recovery in borderline personality disorder

MUDr. Vlastimil Nesnídal^1,2,3, prof. MUDr. Jan Praško, CSc.¹, Mgr. Marie Ocisková, Ph.D.¹, MUDr. Kamila Minaříková⁴, PhDr. Michaela Holubová, Ph.D.¹, MUDr. Jakub Vaněk¹, MUDr. Lucie Bundárová¹, MUDr. Kryštof Kantor¹, Mgr. František Hodný², PhDr. Miloš Šlepecký, Ph.D.

¹ Univerzita Palackého v Olomouci, Lékařská fakulta a Fakultní nemocnice Olomouc, Klinika psychiatrie, Olomouc

² Univerzita Konštantína Filozofa v Nitre, Fakulta sociálnych vied a zdravotnictva, Katedra psychologických vied, Slovensko

³ Katedra psychoterapie, IPVZ Praha

⁴ Krajská nemocnice Liberec, Centrum psychiatrie, Liberec

Historically, borderline personality disorder (BPD) has been viewed as alifelong and highly disabling disorder. However, investigations throughout the past two decades have confronted these postulations. BPD is most commonly diagnosed during early adulthood, and the course of the disorder is generally similar, with decreasing symptomatology over time. The review aims to deliver up-to-date information on the concept of recovery in BPD patients, and possibilities to reach it. Acomputerized database search was conducted in PubMed and Web of Science, using various combinations of keywords relevant to the topic. The search was filtered for the time period between January 1990 and December 2019 The results were reviewed and discussed in four distinct categories relevant to the aim of this study: 1) Why it is meaningful to consider the concept of recovery in BPD, 2) Recovery connected to alleviation of symptoms during the course of time, 3) Effective treatment of the BPD and recovery, 4) Patient'staking responsibility for the recovery. After reviewing the current literature, we could propose aconclusion, that the recovery, including not only reduction of symptoms, but also building apositive personal identity and purpose of life, could be viewed as areachable treatment objective. However, the necessary requirement is patient'sown involvement in taking responsibility for the therapy.

Results: Complete remission or complete disappearance of the symptoms of borderline personality disorder usually does not occur soon after the start of treatment, so we consider complete recovery as adistant goal. Patients with BPD do not have apoor prognosis if they seek treatment and are actively involved. Patients with BPD are open to treatment and can be treated well, but the condition is that they follow their treatment program and monitor their progress and learn how to cope effectively with their problems.

Conclusion: Recovery is an achievable goal in the treatment of individuals with BPD. Stable recovery is an option that requires long-term maintenance of adaptive patterns created in treatment and awillingness to seek help in the event of acrisis. Aprerequisite for recovery is the patient taking responsibility for his or her health condition. Psychotherapy and psychosocial rehabilitation and, in addition, pharmacotherapy help people with borderline personality disorder increase their quality of life and can significantly help on their personal path to recovery.

Keywords: borderline personality disorder, remission, recovery, course, management, pharmacotherapy, psychotherapy, schematherapy, dialectical behavior therapy, transference focus therapy, mentalization based therapy.

Published: December 10, 2020  Show citation