Debate: Should CAMHs professionals be diagnosing personality disorder in adolescents - 'No rationale to deprive adolescents of effective treatment'.

Abstract

Personality disorders (PD) are among the most severe mental disorders, leading to high clinical, familial and societal burden. In contrast to former perceptions, PDs are not a life-long destiny, but treatable with specialized treatment approaches. The current reluctance of clinicians to use this diagnosis in younger age groups obstructs the correct choice of treatment options for young people. Not diagnosing PD at an early stage means to deprive adolescents of effective treatments, thus increasing their risk of fatal outcome. In the upcoming ICD-11, a life-span perspective on mental disorders has been adopted that facilitates the use of the diagnosis PD in young people. Future research will show if the use of the new ICD-11 diagnosis of complex posttraumatic stress disorder will be helpful in a proportion of patients with a history of severe childhood traumatization.