Emotionally Unstable Personality Disorder in Primary Care: A Thematic Review and Novel Toolkit

Abstract

Emotionally Unstable Personality Disorder (EUPD) causes significantly impaired personality functioning to include feeling of emptiness, lack of identity, unstable mood and relationships, intense fear of abandonment and dangerous impulsive behaviour including severe episodes of self-harm. The vast majority of EUPD patients are managed in the community, and have less contact with specialist psychiatric services when compared to patients with other mental illnesses. Despite the burden of this condition on primary care, the academic literature focuses on EUPD in psychiatric inpatients. This paper therefore aims to redress this balance through, first, establishing the key themes present in the available body of work on EUPD in the community, and second, highlighting areas for future research. Further, in the spirit of reducing stigma surrounding mental illness, the authors present a novel and non-pejorative toolkit for the recognition of EUPD in primary care.