title: Experiences of women in secure care who have been prescribed clozapine for borderline personality disorder.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Clozapine is an atypical antipsychotic medicine which can cause significant side-effects. It is often prescribed off-license in severe cases of borderline personality disorder contrary to national treatment guidelines. Little is known about the experiences of those who take clozapine for borderline personality disorder. We explored the lived-experience of women in secure inpatient care who were prescribed clozapine for borderline personality disorder.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Adult females (N= 20) participated in audio-taped semi-structured interviews. Transcripts were subject to thematic analysis. The central themes related to evaluation, wellbeing, understanding and self-management; for many, their subjective wellbeing on clozapine was preferred to prior levels of functioning and symptomatology, sometimes profoundly so. The negative and potentially adverse effects of clozapine were explained as regrettable but relatively unimportant.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  When psychological interventions are, at least initially, ineffective then clozapine treatment is likely to be evaluated positively by a group of women with borderline personality disorder in secure care despite the potential disadvantages.
authors.affiliation: Division of Mental Health Nursing and Counselling, School of Social and Health Sciences, Abertay University, Bell Street, Dundee, DD1 1HG UK.
authors.forename: Geoffrey L
authors.initials: GL
authors.lastname: Dickens
authors.affiliation: St Andrew's Academic Centre, Northampton, NN1 5DG UK ; School of Psychology, Faculty of Arts and Human Sciences, AD Building, University of Surrey, Guildford, Surrey GU2 7XH UK.
authors.forename: Catherine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Frogley
authors.affiliation: St Andrew's Academic Centre, Northampton, NN1 5DG UK ; Medical School, University of Buckingham, Yeomanry House, Hunter Street, Buckingham, MK18 1EG UK.
authors.forename: Fiona
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Mason
authors.affiliation: St Andrew's Academic Centre, Northampton, NN1 5DG UK.
authors.forename: Katina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Anagnostakis
authors.affiliation: St Andrew's Academic Centre, Northampton, NN1 5DG UK ; Department of Forensic and Neurodevelopmental Science, King's College London Institute of Psychiatry Psychology and Neuroscience, De Crespigny Park, Denmark Hill London, SE5 8AF UK.
authors.forename: Marco M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Picchioni
keywords: Borderline personality disorder; Clozapine; Emotionally unstable personality disorder; Thematic analysis