New Study: No Evidence that Medication is an Effective Treatment for BPD

A study recently presented at the 17th Annual European Congress of Psychiatry (sponsored by the European Psychiatric Association) concluded that there is no evidence that medication is effective in treating borderline personality disorder (BPD).

The study, by Drs. Jutta Stoffer and Klaus Lieb, analyzed data from 27 randomized controlled trials of medications for BPD, and found that no single medication was effective in reducing overall BPD symptom severity. However, some mood stabilizing drugs and second-generation antipsychotic medications did have have a significant impact on some of the core symptoms of BPD.

The authors of the study concluded that medication therapy for BPD should be targeted at specific BPD symptoms, rather than the overall disorder. They also noted that while it is very common to prescribe antidepressant medications for BPD (such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, or SSRIs), there is no evidence that these medications have any impact on BPD symptoms (although they do impact related disorders, e.g., depression).

Learn more about medications for BPD