title: Medication prescribed to people with personality disorder: the influence of patient factors and treatment setting.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To examine the extent of use and clinical rationale for the prescribing of psychotropic drugs for people with personality disorder (PD) who are in contact with mental health services.
  
  
  METHODS
  Clinical records of 278 patients with a primary diagnosis of PD were examined.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Just over 80% (N = 225) of patients were being prescribed psychotropic medication. One in five was prescribed three or more drugs. People with comorbid mental disorders were more likely to receive psychotropic medication. Half those prescribed antidepressants had no record of depression in their records. While drug treatments were mostly prescribed for depressive and psychotic symptoms, they were also used to try to manage behavioural problems such as self-harm or given in response to patient requests for treatment. People receiving specialist PD services (OR = 0.35, 95% CI = 0.13-0.95) or other specialist services (OR = 0.24, 95% CI = 0.10-0.60) were less likely to be prescribed drug treatments.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Drug treatments are widely used for people with PD despite the relatively weak evidence base. Both the type of personality problem and the context in which treatment is delivered appear to have an impact on whether drug treatments are prescribed.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Mental Health, Imperial College London, UK. m.crawford@imperial.ac.uk
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Crawford
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kakad
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Rendel
authors.forename: N A
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Mansour
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Crugel
authors.forename: K W
authors.initials: KW
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Paton
authors.forename: T R E
authors.initials: TR
authors.lastname: Barnes
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000928:Antidepressive Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D003863:Depression / Q000188:drug therapy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008605:Mental Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D010554:Personality Disorders / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000523:psychology; D055553:Prescription Drugs / Q000627:therapeutic use; D011619:Psychotropic Drugs / Q000627:therapeutic use*
chemical_list: D000928:Antidepressive Agents; D055553:Prescription Drugs; D011619:Psychotropic Drugs