Emerging Evidence for the Use of Atypical Antipsychotics in Borderline Personality Disorder[1]

Background: The availability of new atypical antipsychotics provides new opportunities for the treatment of borderline personality disorder (BPD). Methods: Original papers on this topic were sought. Our study reviewed and discussed 14 papers. Results: 2 RCTs, 4 non-controlled open-label studies and 8 case reports. The patient populations studied were highly diverse and the dropout rate after a long follow-up period was high. All of the articles reported positive effects of olanzapine, clozapine, quetiapine and risperidone. Conclusion: BPD patients with psychotic-like, impulsive or suicidal symptoms might benefit from atypical antipsychotics. Since the methodological quality of the reviewed articles is poor, further randomised placebo-controlled studies with longer follow-ups are needed before any firm conclusions can be drawn.

1 An extended version of this manuscript has been previously published in Dutch in Tijdschr Psychiatr 2003; 8: 717 - 724 [Journal of Dutch Society for Psychiatry].

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1 An extended version of this manuscript has been previously published in Dutch in Tijdschr Psychiatr 2003; 8: 717 - 724 [Journal of Dutch Society for Psychiatry].