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Personality disorder prevalence in psychiatric outpatients: A systematic literature review
Author(s) -
Beckwith Helen,
Moran Paul F.,
Reilly Joe
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
personality and mental health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.193
H-Index - 22
eISSN - 1932-863X
pISSN - 1932-8621
DOI - 10.1002/pmh.1252
Subject(s) - psycinfo , personality , psychiatry , medline , clinical psychology , personality disorders , mental health , medicine , systematic review , borderline personality disorder , psychology , political science , law , social psychology
A systematic literature review of studies measuring the prevalence of personality disorder in community secondary care is needed to identify both the met and unmet needs and plan services accordingly. Methods PsycINFO, MEDLINE and EMBASE databases were searched using NHS Evidence. Only studies assessing overall personality disorder prevalence within help‐seeking, outpatient populations were included. Papers were excluded for focusing solely on the prevalence of specific personality disorders or comorbid prevalence within specific populations. Results A total of 269 papers were identified. Nine papers met criteria and were critically appraised, showing a high level of heterogeneity with regards to methods, inclusion criteria, source of information, time of assessment, instruments used and overall quality of research. Prevalence estimates in Europe varied between 40% and 92%, were more consistently approximated between 45% and 51% in the USA and differed significantly in the two Asian studies: 1.07% (India) and 60% (Pakistan). Conclusions The prevalence of personality disorder in community mental health care appears to be substantial, but better estimates will only emerge from high quality studies with greater consistency of method. Implementing screening tools within outpatient or community services may result in high rates of personality disorder identification, with both clinical and service implications. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.