[Lifestyle interventions for patients with personality disorder]

It has been known for some time that patients with severe mental disorders often suffer from somatic comorbidity and that they have a shorter life expectancy. However, also patients with personality pathology often suffer from a poorer somatic health associated with a shorter life expectancy. In daily practice a poor somatic condition in these patients seems often due to a maladaptive life style. Moreover, clinical evidence suggests that a maladaptive life style hinders a good outcome of the (psychotherapeutic) treatment. In this article I present a brief review of the literature, describe three fictitious cases and give suggestions how to diagnose and intervene on a maladaptive life style. One had to take in account that a maladaptive life style often is used as a coping mechanism to combat one's difficulties.