The ingrained nature of personality led many to believe that psychological treatments for people with ‘personality disorder’ also needed to be long term. Current NICE guidance caution against the use of brief interventions and widely used psychological treatments, including Dialectical Behaviour Therapy and Mentalisation Based Treatment, delivered through weekly groups and individual sessions over a period of many months. However, up to half of people referred to these long-term programmes do not engage in them or drop out before completing them, meaning that most people with personality disorder do not receive effective psychological support.
In the 16 years since NICE guidelines were published, new evidence has emerged that shorter-term interventions can benefit people diagnosed with personality disorder. The role of these brief interventions is the focus for this session.
The session will start with a discussion of the results of a recent systematic review of international studies that have examined the clinical effectiveness of brief interventions for people with personality disorder. Following this, a senior mental health nurse who oversees services for people with Complex Emotional Needs will describe how brief interventions can best be organised and how potential pitfalls can be avoided. Finally, we will hear the results of the ‘SPS study’, the largest ever clinical trial of psychological support for people with personality disorder. Trial findings and the experiences of people who took part in the study will be presented by the Expert by Experience who led patient involvement in the study.
Delegates that attend this session will find out if and how brief psychological interventions can help people with personality disorder and hear from those who use and provide mental health services about how brief interventions might best be delivered alongside other approaches to supporting people with personality disorder.
Learning objectives
By the end of the session attendees will:
- Be aware of the range of brief interventions that have been developed for people with personality disorder
- Be familiar with the evidence base that supports the use of these approaches
- Understand some of the challenges associated with implementing brief interventions for people with personality disorder how these can be overcome.
Speakers
Chair: Professor Mike Crawford, Imperial College London, London
Ms Ruksana Begum-Meades, Imperial College London, London
Ms Gemma Gowing, Avon and Wiltshire Partnership Trust, Bristol
Ms Fiona Kuhn-Thompson, Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust, London
Availability
This webinar is part of the Congress webinar 2025 package. If you attended all four days of Congress, you will have access to these as part of your Congress package. Otherwise the Congress webinar 2025 package can be purchased below.
