Borderlone Personality Disorder Clinical Trial
Personality disorders are life-long maladaptive behavioral patterns. Borderline personality
disorder (BPD) is the leading personality disorder encountered in clinical settings, often
associated with tremendous distress. It is characterized by impulsivity, emotional lability,
unstable interpersonal relationships, with particular sensitivity to abandonment. BPD
patients are prone to self destructive behaviors and all too frequently attempt suicide.
When in emotional turmoil, persons with BPD may also develop brief, transient psychotic
states.
Psychotherapy for BPD is a common treatment option, but it requires considerable time and
specific personnel training, and is therefore not always feasible. Medical treatment is an
efficacious alternative, however there is no concensus on drug selection. Some experts have
suggested that medical treatment should be selected individually according to the subject's
dominant clinical symptom. Several psychopharmacological groups have been proposed:
Antidepressants, mood stabilizers, and several novel antipsychotic drugs. The latter are
particularly promising since they may produce symptomaic improvement with fewer adverse
effects. Risperidone has been shown in a few preliminary studies to be promising in the
treatment of various BPD symptoms, but no controlled study has tested it yet. We propose to
test the efficacy of risperidone in the treatment of BPD in a double-blind crossover design
using both clinical and phsysiological measure.The main hypothesis is that risperidone will
be efficient in alleviating BPD core and secondary symptoms.
n/a
Allocation: Randomized, Endpoint Classification: Efficacy Study, Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment, Masking: Double Blind (Subject, Investigator), Primary Purpose: Treatment