BORDERLINE PERSONALITY DISORDER
28/02/2012
The Hon. K.L. VINCENT (14:52): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the minister representing the Minister for Health and Ageing questions regarding borderline personality disorder.
Leave granted.
The Hon. K.L. VINCENT: In October of last year, I attended the first annual Borderline Personality Disorder Awareness Day luncheon at the Mental Illness Fellowship of South Australia at Wayville. I found it enlightening to learn about this under-diagnosed and often maligned mental illness from consumers, carers and experts in the field. Borderline personality disorder is a highly prevalent mental illness, with a lifetime suicide risk similar to that of schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, at around 10 per cent. It is thought that 1 per cent to 2 per cent of South Australia’s population has BPD, with 75 per cent of sufferers being women. About 75 per cent will have had traumatic events of some kind during their childhood.
Many mental health professionals, including emergency room doctors and nurses, and even psychiatrists, avoid diagnosing people with the disorder, such is the lack of relevant treatment once people do have this diagnosis. People with this diagnosis attached to their file will often be poorly treated or dismissed in emergency rooms and other health care facilities around the state. My understanding is that there used to be a day clinic at the Glenside campus which was suitable for treating BPD but that this shut down in the mid 1990s.
Whilst I note and congratulate the recent state government campaign on television that aims to reduce the stigma associated with mental illness, I am still very concerned by the traumatising shame that seems to be attached to BPD. This looks to occur even within sectors of the community such as health care, when we would hope that there would be more enlightened views on this matter.
Since I first learnt more about BPD last October, I have toured facilities at Craigmore and Christies Beach run by disability service providers that work specifically with clients who have borderline personality disorder, together with a mild intellectual disability. I was very impressed with the success of these programs and the extraordinary insight these clients with an intellectual disability have about their mental illness and the steps they were taking to improve their daily lives. It leads me to wonder why more comprehensive programs are not available to the rest of the BPD consumers in this state who lie outside of disability services. My questions to the minister are:
- Is the minister aware of the rate of borderline personality disorder in South Australia?
- Will the minister establish a specialist clinic or ward within Adelaide for the treatment of BPD given the high prevalence of it within South Australia?
- What information and resources are available to health professionals in general, and mental health professionals specifically, on treatment of BPD in this state?
- What training programs does the minister provide to clinicians on borderline personality disorder within the health department in South Australia?
The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY (Minister for Industrial Relations, Minister for State/Local Government Relations) (14:55): I would like to thank the honourable member for her very important question, and I will take it on notice and refer it to the appropriate minister for an answer.
