Personality Disorders in Adolescents and Different Therapeutic Approaches

Abstract

A personality disorder can be diagnosed at any age if the diagnostic criteria are met, which means also in adolescence. Diagnosing personality disorders is important since only with clear diagnosis specialized treatment can be applied. Several specialized (psycho)therapies have been developed for treating adolescent personality disorder with evidence-based efficiency, especially in borderline personality disorder-adolescent identity treatment (AIT), mentalization-based therapy (MBT), and dialectical behavior therapy (DBT). All are evidence-based therapies. Pharmacotherapy is not the therapy of choice and only a few studies have clearly demonstrated its efficiency; however, it is still largely utilized in clinical practice.