Understanding Borderline Personality Disorder in Young People: An Exploration of the DECRYPT dataset

Robertson, Sarah (2025) Understanding Borderline Personality Disorder in Young People: An Exploration of the DECRYPT dataset. Doctoral thesis, University of East Anglia.

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Abstract

This thesis portfolio presents two papers investigating Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) in children and adolescents.

The first chapter explores the nature of BPD, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (CPTSD), and how these can present in young people under 18 years old, and why this is of clinical relevance.

The second chapter presents a systematic review and meta-analysis focused on the prevalence of BPD in young people living in the community who were not accessing mental health services. We reviewed ten papers and found a pooled prevalence of 12.9% (95% CI: 5.5, 22.7); Heterogeneity was high (Q=(9) 749.3, p<0.001). When four outlier studies were removed this prevalence rate reduced to 4.8% (95% CI: 2.9,7.3).

The third chapter presents the empirical study exploring secondary baseline data from the ‘Delivering Cognitive Therapy for Young People After Trauma’ (DECRYPT) study, a Randomised Control Trial which compared trauma-focused cognitive behaviour therapy to treatment as usual in a sample of young people with multiple traumas. This study adopted a quantitative approach to analyse the primary and secondary outcomes for a subset of the participants (N=98) whose parents had completed a self-report measure for BPD. Results confirmed a difference between BPD, PTSD and CPTSD, with 48% of participants meeting the clinical cut off for BPD and supporting other research classifying these conditions and further illustrated some commonalities between BPD and PTSD/CPTSD.

The final chapter presents a discussion and critical evaluation. Our findings suggest that BPD and subthreshold clinically significant traits of BPD are present in children and adolescents and more prevalent than expected. Clinical implications suggest services should seek to identify and support these individuals early before the impact of the condition has severe consequences. Future research should consider longitudinal studies to better understand the trajectory of this condition.

Item Type:	Thesis (Doctoral)
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Norwich Medical School
Depositing User:	James Tweddle
Date Deposited:	29 Oct 2025 16:40
Last Modified:	29 Oct 2025 16:40
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/100843
DOI:

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