Speech on Borderline Personality Disorder
19/11/2014
I speak today as co-mover of this motion, as a passionate advocate for people with borderline personality disorder and the family and friends who care for them. Since I first became aware of this mental health issue more than three years ago, I have repeatedly asked questions of this health minister and his predecessor calling on improved services to support people with BPD and, in particular, the establishment of a specialist mental health service for people with borderline personality disorders, their family carers, and professionals who work with them.
This week is the one-year anniversary of the death of a young Adelaide woman with a borderline personality disorder diagnosis. She took her own life after our health system dismally failed her. A woman, younger than me, died last year because we, the South Australian community, could not provide adequate support and treatment through our health system. This death, like every suicide, leaves a trail of carnage, of depression, of sadness, of despair through the family and friends who surround that person. It is tragic and it should not happen.
Reports at both state and commonwealth level have recommended changes to the way we support people with borderline personality disorders in both the clinical and community settings. The state government, the mental health minister, have paid no heed. It is not good enough. Dignity for Disability is tired of reports being written and ignored. Promises of ‘we’ll look into this, we’ll investigate that, we might do this’ are not acceptable.
Let’ s say you have no humanity and it worries you not a bit about this tragic loss of life and the wasted years that occur when people with borderline personality disorder are not given adequate treatment through our health system. Well, let’s look at the economic argument—this is just one case study.
This male, with a BPD diagnosis, presented 97 times to the Emergency Department before he had received Dialectical Behaviour Therapy, or DBT. He had a history of self-harm, alcohol and substance abuse, physical health problems and lacked suitable accommodation. After receiving D B T (and I remind the chamber that there are long waiting lists for DBT programs), he was reunited with his family and moved into independent accommodation. He had no self-harming behaviour for 18 months and no presentation to EDs for two years. The cost saving to our health system by this man not presenting to EDs is $82,450.
Given BPD has a prevalence of 1 to 4 per cent of our population, and this group has among the highest level of unmet need, it is not hard to explain how an investment of $1.4 million in a SPECTRUM style [resource service] could result in savings of $100 million per year to our health and mental health budget bottom line.
It is time for parliament and this government to take action—we don’t want to hear weasel words and empty promises—we want a funded, resourced state-wide specialist unit for Borderline Personality Disorder. Lives are being lost, families are under enormous stress, and we are not doing our job as a community to provide support to people with mental illness. It is time to get on with it.
