Background Increasing age as well as borderline personality pathology are associated with a lower level of health-related quality of life (HR-QoL). Our objective was to investigate whether the presence of borderline personality traits modifies the association between age and HR-QoL in the general population. Methods Cross-sectional data from 5,303 respondents (aged 21–72 years) of the Netherlands Mental Health Survey and Incidence Study-2 were analyzed. Borderline personality traits were assessed with the International Personality Disorder Examination questionnaire. Mental and physical HR-QoL were measured with the Medical Outcomes Study Short Form Health Survey. Multiple linear regression analysis was used to examine the association of borderline personality traits, age and their interaction on mental as well as physical HR-QoL, adjusted for demographic variables as well as somatic and mental disorders. Results A total of 1,520 (28.7%) respondents reported one or more borderline personality traits of which 58 (1.1%) reported five or more indicative of a borderline personality disorder. A higher age was associated with lower physical HR-QoL. This negative association became significantly stronger in the presence of borderline personality traits. The association between increasing age and mental HR-QoL was positive in the absence of borderline personality traits and negative in the presence of borderline personality traits. Conclusion Borderline personality traits negatively interfere with the association between age and HR-QoL irrespective of somatic and mental disorders. Attention of clinicians and researchers for subthreshold borderline personality pathology is needed in middle-aged and older persons.
The use of schema therapy to treat personality disorders in older adults is gaining scientific attention. Personality disorders are prevalent in one out of ten older adults and have a detrimental effect on quality of life. Although 24% or more of nursing home residents may have personality disorders, psychotherapeutic treatment options in the case of comorbid cognitive impairment have not yet been studied. This study concerns a 63-year-old care-dependent male nursing home resident with a personality disorder, a substance use disorder, and several cognitive impairments due to cerebrovascular disease, who presented with complaints of loneliness, low self-esteem, sleeping problems and anger outbursts. Schema therapy was delivered based on the schema mode model for a period of 27 months. Post-treatment assessment demonstrated a decrease in early maladaptive schemas and dysfunctional schema modes and improved personality functioning overall. Although situational psychological distress fluctuated throughout treatment, quality of life improved after 7 months and remained stable onwards. Presented complaints either remitted or strongly diminished. Substance use was also addressed and was in remission for the last 20 months of therapy. This case study suggests that schema therapy is a viable treatment for older adults with personality disorders who present with cognitive impairments in nursing homes.
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