Borderline Personality Disorder — MRCPsych Paper B MCQ

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ModeratePersonality DisordersBorderline Personality DisorderMRCPsych Paper B

A 35-year-old woman with borderline personality disorder is being considered for a psychological intervention specifically targeting the disorder. Outside a service with the structured-care, integrated-theoretical-approach and therapist-supervision characteristics specified by NICE, what is the shortest planned treatment duration that would avoid classification as a brief intervention that NICE advises against?

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Correct answer: B — 3 months

The correct answer is B, 3 months. NICE CG78 advises against psychological interventions lasting less than 3 months when they are used specifically for borderline personality disorder or its individual symptoms outside a service providing an integrated theoretical approach, structured care and therapist supervision. Therefore, 3 months is the shortest listed duration that is not below this threshold. Four and 6 weeks are both brief interventions under the NICE definition. Six months and 1 year may be appropriate durations for particular treatment programmes, but neither is the minimum threshold specified in recommendation 1.3.4.4. The recommendation is not an absolute statement that every psychological intervention in every setting must last at least 3 months; its service-context qualification is important.

Reference: National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. Borderline personality disorder: recognition and management (CG78), recommendation 1.3.4.4. 2009. https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/cg78/chapter/Recommendations