Guidelines for the Treatment of BPD

Borderline Personality Disorder: A Practical Guide for Victorian Area Mental Health & Wellbeing Services (2024)

Spectrum has developed standards of care and a guide for clinicians to provide the best possible evidence-based treatment available for people living with borderline personality disorder (BPD) and support their family/carers/partners/friends/kin in Victorian AMH & WBS.

The document is available for online reading.

National Health and Medical Research Council (Australia) 2012 Clinical Practice Guideline for the Management of Borderline Personality Disorder

The NHMRC BPD Guidelines seek to improve understanding and recognition of BPD in health services and the community and will assist health professionals to diagnose, treat and manage BPD in adolescents and adults.

These guidelines were developed by a multi-disciplinary Guideline Development Committee of clinical, consumer and carer representatives with BPD expertise. The guideline discusses a range of treatment options, including 63 recommendations covering diagnosis, management, treatment and information for supporting carers and families.

Guidelines are available as a free download

Clinical Practice Guideline for the Management of Borderline Personality Disorder (2012) (PDF, 1.5MB) 
Clinical Practice Guideline for the Management of Borderline Personality Disorder - Appendices (PDF, 1.4MB)
Clinical Practice Guideline for the Management of Borderline Personality Disorder - Appendix H: Evidence Tables (PDF, 3.7MB)
Caring for People with Borderline Personality Disorder: A Reference Guide for Health Professionals (PDF, 773KB)

Services for people diagnosable with personality disorder, January 2020 Royal College of Psychiatrists (UK) Position Statement

Project Air Strategy for Personality Disorders (NSW)

Project Air have developed a comprehensive range of treatment guidelines and intervention manuals available for free download.

Project Air Strategy Treatment Guidelines for Personality Disorders (2015)
These Treatment Guidelines have been developed by Project Air Strategy to assist services and practitioners working with personality disorders.

Project Air Strategy Brief Intervention Manual (2015)
This Brief Intervention Manual has been developed by Project Air Strategy for Personality Disorders. It is designed to assist services and practitioners implement an integrative relational step-down model of care. It helps to plan care, manage clients in crisis, deliver brief interventions, and connect with carers.

Project Air Strategy Brief Intervention Manual for Adolescents (2019)
This manual is designed to help healthcare workers and services intervene early and better support young people with complex mental health issues. It is particularly focused on young people in crisis, who have complex needs, by providing practical therapeutic techniques in the prevention and treatment of high-risk challenging behaviours. It describes a four session brief intervention that can act as the first step in a treatment journey for young people who are presenting with complex needs and high-risk challenging behaviours.

Adolescent Intervention - Guide for Clinicians (2019)
This guideline has been developed by Project Air Strategy as an intervention for clinicians working with young people with complex mental health issues, including personality disorder, trauma history, self-harm and suicidal behaviour and difficulties with affect, identity and relationships.

Project Air Strategy Parenting with Personality Disorder & Complex Mental Health Issues Intervention (2018)
Parenting with personality disorder and complex mental health issues intervention: A manual for health professionals - is designed by the Project Air Strategy to provide a brief parenting intervention for mental health workers to assist people with personality disorders and complex mental health issues to strengthen and enhance their parenting skills.

Project Air Strategy Family, Partner and Carer Intervention Manual for Personality Disorders (2019)
This manual is designed for working with families, partners and carers of people with personality disorder, emerging personality disorder, symptoms or traits.

Project Air Peers Facilitator Manual
This manual is for peer workers, mental health professionals and services who are interested in providing co-facilitated programs for individuals with personality disorder. It is recommended that peer workers involved in the program have lived experience of personality disorder (with traits resembling borderline personality disorder) and have undergone the training associated with delivering and using this intervention manual. Clinicians delivering the intervention should be adequately qualified and both peer workers and mental health clinicians should be engaged in regular supervision, peer consultation, and other continuous professional development.

Peer Support Program Participant workbook
This workbook is for participants taking part in Project Air Strategy Peer support for people with personality disorder as outlined in the Project Air Strategy Peers Facilitator Manual.

12 Week Group Skills (DBT) Training Overview
12 Week Skills only Groups are increasingly being found to have a strong evidence-base. Please find here a Project Air suggested 12-week model for a skills training group using the standard DBT skills as described in the treatment manuals. References: Laporte, L., Paris, J., Bergevin, T., Fraser, R., & Cardin, J. F. (2018). Clinical outcomes of a stepped care program for borderline personality disorder. Personality and Mental Health, 12(3), 252-264. Linehan, M. (2014). DBT Skills training manual. Guilford Publications.

A modified DBT group therapy manual
Mission Australia - Triple Care Farm and the Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education are pleased to be able to provide a group therapy program for working with young people with substance misuse issues and other complex needs. 

Perinatal Mental Health

Australian Clinical Practice Guidelines for Mental Health Care in the Perinatal Period (2017) COPE (Aust) now includes Borderline Personality Disorder

• Full Guidelines and Summary
• BPD guide for women and their families
• BPD guide for for clinicians

Miscellaneous 

Services for people diagnosable with personality disorder (2020) Royal College of Psychiatrists (UK)

NICE Guidance - Personality Disorder: Borderline and Antisocial (2015) Quality Standard qs88. National Institute for Health and Carer Excellence (UK) 

NICE (National Institute for Clinical Excellence) Guideline: Self-harm: assessment, management and preventing recurrence. (UK) 2022. The guideline covers assessment, management and preventing recurrence for children, young people and adults who have self-harmed. It includes those with a mental health problem, neurodevelopmental disorder or learning disability and applies to all sectors that work with people who have self-harmed.

A National framework for recovery-oriented mental health services: guide for practitioners and providers (2014) This document gives guidance to mental health practitioners and services on recovery-oriented practice and service delivery. 

The American Psychiatric Association Practice Guideline for the Treatment of Patients with Borderline Personality Disorder. (2023, draft). This guideline is an update from the 2001 APA guideline and aims to help clinicians improve the care and well-being of their patients by reviewing current evidence and
providing evidence-based statements that are intended to enhance knowledge and optimise treatment of BPD.