Quetiapine in the Treatment of Borderline Personality Disorder

Affective dysregulation, impulsivity and cognitiveperceptual difficulties are the psychopathological nuclear dimensions of Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). Psychopharmacological treatment may become necessary during episodes of acute decompensation in which suicidal or self-destructive behaviour erupts. Some classes of psychotropic drugs have demonstrated efficacy in diminishing symptom severity and optimising functioning, such as antidepressants, mood stabilizers, benzodiazepines, opiate antagonists and antipsychotics. Conventional antipsychotics are the best-studied psychotropic medications for BPD, but nonadherence is often due to their severe side effects. Preliminary data reveal efficacy of atypical antipsychotics in BPD. We describe the impact of the novel antipsychotic drug quetiapine on severe self-mutilation in two female patients with the diagnoses of BPD. In both cases, monotherapeutic treatment with quetiapine was well tolerated and resulted in a marked improvement of impulsive behaviour...