Early intervention for personality disorder

Specialized treatments for personality disorder are usually offered late in the course of the disorder, to a small number of help-seeking individuals with entrenched disability. Intervention during the early stages of personality disorder might help to decrease the persistence and/or the severity of personality disorder and to prevent the cascading of secondary psychopathology and psychosocial disability. Research regarding the understanding of and appropriate treatment for early stage personality disorder is growing. However, there is still a lack of clarity in the field about what constitutes early intervention and how it might relate to early intervention for other mental disorders. Also, there is little research on how to design integrated early intervention services suitable for personality and other mental disorders or on the long-term effects of early intervention.