Impact of clinical severity on outcomes of mentalisation-based treatment for borderline personality disorder

Background Evidence of remission from borderline personality disorder (BPD) without specialised treatment is accumulating. Aims To establish whether specialised treatments are indicated for patients with clinically severe disorder. Method The impact of clinical severity on outcomes of a randomised controlled trial of mentalisation-based treatment (MBT) was contrasted with structured clinical management (SCM). Severity indicators were defined as severity of comorbid psychiatric syndromes, severity of BPD, severity of personality disturbance and severity of symptom distress. Logistic regressions were used to predict the likelihood of recovery at 18 months, and mixed-effects regression analysis was applied to examine the association of severity and rates of improvement across time in the two treatment groups. Results None of the severity criteria predicted outcome at the end of treatment on logistic regression. However, testing the significance of distribution of cases of recovery v. non-recovery suggested that multiple Axis II diagnoses and symptom distress influenced outcomes. Conclusions Borderline personality disorder with significant Axis II comorbidity is a possible but uncertain indicator for specialist treatment. Patients whose only personality disorder diagnosis is BPD do equally well with SCM. Prospective studies are needed.