Nurses' perceptions of patients with borderline personality disorder - lit review

Published

Specializes in adult psych, LTC/SNF, child psych.

While by no means comprehensive, current research has been compiled to provide information regarding the stigma regarding borderline personality disorder and perceptions of patients with BPD by nursing staff. Stigma and past experiences color how we provide patient care and while it is important to share our experiences, it is also important to provide objective nursing care as much as possible.

Alright, it's still Mental Health Awareness Month. There is a lot of stigma going around (even by nursing professionals) about mental illnesses such as borderline personality disorder. I have been out of the academic setting for a while, so please don't harp on my citations but please consider reading some evidence based research regarding a known phenomenon in nursing that needs to be re-examined and progress towards reducing negative perceptions of patients will both increase patient satisfaction as well as nursing satisfaction.

There is a wealth of knowledge out there, both positive and negative regarding borderline personality disorder. Anecdotes are plentiful on the internet and while it is important to be able to share personal, first-hand experiences with these diseases, it is equally important to consider the hard facts and how our anecdotes influence our nursing practice.

Paper

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B1j3AqPGkBQgVDIwcDJ5alg3ZEU/edit?usp=sharing

References

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B1j3AqPGkBQgMzJxT3oxVzBXVU0/edit?usp=sharing

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Thank you! I appreciate this!

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Specializes in LTC, assisted living, med-surg, psych.

Excellent article, dolcebellaluna!

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Specializes in Alzheimer's, Geriatrics, Chem. Dep..

THANK YOU for the time and effort you put into serious study of this disorder!

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Specializes in ED.

I feel really lucky. My mom is a therapist, and I actually did a clinical rotation at her work while in school. One of her pt's at the time I was there had BPD, and I took my lunch with my mom. I was able to sit down with her and discuss this disorder with her, in more depth than I was able to while in school. My mom always jokes to her coworkers now that I am the psych whisperer, as I work in the ED, and most of our psych/drug seekers love me, thanks to growing up with a mental health care provider as a parent. No matter where you end up working, you WILL deal with psych patients, and it is invaluable to understand their conditions. I love working with my psych patients, it's always a fun challenge :)

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Racer, that is kinda cool. Did you learn anything from that person?

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Specializes in Psych.

Very real phenomena. I work in psych and there are moans and groans when we have pts with any axis II disorder. I really try to remind myself that borderline especially has been a survival mechanism for the pts for a long time and it takes years to fix, you can't help sometimes becoming frustrated with the behaviors. My SIL also has BPD, and it has done a lot of damage to the family and caused a lot of hurt and resentment.

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A few small cavils-- a typo or two, and "milieu" is the same thing as "environment," but a nice overview. Thank you.

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Specializes in adult psych, LTC/SNF, child psych.
A few small cavils-- a typo or two, and "milieu" is the same thing as "environment," but a nice overview. Thank you.

Thanks! Yeah, it's more a draft than anything. I'm not currently in academia/school but I like to keep up with research and keep my skills active!

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Specializes in Med Surg.

I think its so silly. For every person diagnosed with a personality disorder, there are untold numbers more who are not yet (and perhaps never will be) diagnosed - although they suffer with the same issues. Why treat people differently? Particularly given that many of both the diagnosed (and the undiagnosed) are among the treating staff themselves...

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I think its so silly. For every person diagnosed with a personality disorder, there are untold numbers more who are not yet (and perhaps never will be) diagnosed - although they suffer with the same issues. Why treat people differently? Particularly given that many of both the diagnosed (and the undiagnosed) are among the treating staff themselves...

Seems to me, what you are saying would be the same thing as saying, "For every person diagnosed with a cancer/diabetes/hypothyroidism, etc., there are untold numbers more who are not yet (and perhaps never will be) diagnosed - although they suffer with the same issues. Why treat people differently?"

Not everyone is going to get diagnosed, not everyone is going to seek treatment...

The gal with undiagnosed and untreated breast cancer is not going to be treated the same way as one being actively treated... because in the first place, no one is aware there's cancer.

If there is denial, that gal may never seek help until she reaches a crisis point where she cannot deny any longer there is something wrong (can't function) and needs help.

The same is true in psych.

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Specializes in Med-Surg, NICU.

I have borderline personality disorder and outside of psychiatrists, very few people are educated about the illness.

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