What are Personality Disorders?
Diagnosing Personality Disorder
If a person presents who has repeatedly self-harmed or shown persistent risk-taking behaviour or marked emotional instability → refer to a specialist mental health service (e.g., PCMHT).
Penrose Health Action Plan
We aim to keep the number of Mental Health Nurse visits to a maximum of 6 per patient in any given episode. See Schedule of Reviews below for more specific/detailed guidance.
⚠️ Safety netting
If at any time a patient presents:
- with a significant change in risk status; or
- if there is a commencement/change in medication
The visit count resets back to the beginning (i.e. First review)
Secondary and External services may be better placed to help/support patients than we are.
- Secondary services offer psychological treatments (e.g., interpersonal/psychodynamic therapies, CBT)
- External services in the community offer many options for social and psychological help through relationships with the wider service network (e.g. Social Prescriber, Befriender, Care Coordinator, Therapist, Lifestyle Coach, etc.)
We do not provide any form of psychotherapy within our surgeries.
Patient Journey - Determining Schedule of Reviews
Click toggle for a schematic of the action plan/treatment policy for all Penrose Health Surgeries, or follow the guidance below.
If patient not in crisis and not managed in secondary service → review in 2-6 weeks.
- If a patient is actively managed by another mental health provider → liaise with services as required and conclude routine MHN appointments.
- If rejected by secondary services and patient is at high risk → review again in <1-2 weeks.
Patient is stable/improving → conclude routine MHN appointments.
Patient’s mental health worsening → discuss with GP/clinical colleagues or PCMHT for referral for diagnosis and shared care plan.
Referring/Signposting Onward
Below are some services to which you can signpost/refer patients. More services can be found on the Penrose Portal in Mental Health Services Database.