Despite longstanding general agreement that personality disorders have their roots in childhood and adolescence, diagnosing borderline personality disorder (BPD) prior to age 18 years has been controversial. To date, there is increasing evidence in support of both diagnosing and treating BPD in adolescence. Thus, national treatment guidelines, Section 3 of the new DSM-5, and the proposed ICD-11 personality disorder classification have all recently confirmed the legitimacy of the BPD diagnosis in adolescents.
In order to prevent chronicity and poor psychosocial outcomes of severe mental disorders, early intervention and maybe even indicated prevention seem to have clear advantages. Nonetheless, early detection, diagnosis, classification and staging of early BPD represent major challenges, particularly in the light of emerging dimensional models of personality disorder, new diagnosis of “nonsuicidal self-injury” and “suicidal behavior disorder”, and a common hesitation among practitioners to stigmatize their patients with a categorical diagnosis of BPD. The symposium will present latest research findings on the diagnosis and staging of early BPD. New diagnostic concepts (e.g. from section 3 of the DSM-5) and methodological approaches (e.g. neuroimaging or ecological momentary assessment) will give new insights into the topic, and will inform clinical practice in order to facilitate early detection and intervention of BPD. The symposium is part of the Global Alliance for Prevention and Early Intervention for BPD.