Description

In this talk, Dr. Brañas presents compelling data showing that between 11% and 22% of adolescents in outpatient mental health clinics, and 33% to 49% in inpatient units, meet the criteria for borderline personality disorder (BPD). Despite its prevalence and associated social and economic burdens, BPD is underdiagnosed, and mental health professionals often lack adequate training in its management among adolescents.   Good Psychiatric Management for Adolescents (GPM-A) with BPD is a structured, manualized, and principle-based approach that simplifies BPD treatment. It addresses challenges such as patient rejection of the diagnosis, conflicts among care providers, medication nonadherence, and stigma. It is a generalist treatment developed for non-personality-disorder specialists and a scalable solution for healthcare systems within a stepped-care approach.

Learning Objectives

A. To offer a summary of the status of the borderline personality disorder (BPD) diagnosis in adolescents.

B. To discuss the trajectory of BPD symptoms in adolescence and the key reasons for early intervention in BPD. 

C. To explain the structure of Good Psychiatric Management for Adolescents (GPM-A) with BPD and its role in a stepped-care treatment framework.

D. To examine the interpersonal hypersensitivity model and GPM-A’s basic principles.