Help with personality disorders ‘falls short’

Services for patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD) in some parts of Scotland are not good enough, a health watchdog has warned.

The Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland hit out as it published a new report highlighting “challenges” in caring for sufferers. The commission noted delays in diagnosis, saying for most patients it took more than five years from first having symptoms to being diagnosed with the condition.

The availability of different therapies and the waiting times for access to them also varied across the country, the report said.

Few BPD sufferers have crisis plans in place, with patients also saying they are “treated with less sympathy and understanding than people with other mental health problems”.

About one in 100 people can suffer from BPD.