Research into self injury among young people living with borderline personality disorder has led to Dr Holly Andrewes being awarded the 2018 European Society for the Study of Personality Disorders’ Young Researcher Award.
Dr Andrewes, who recently completed her PhD at Orygen, was presented with her award in Spain last week at the 5th International Borderline Personality Disorder Congress. The award recognises original and innovative research into personality disorders.
Dr Andrewes undertook her research through the Helping Young People Early (HYPE) programs at Orygen Youth Health and headspace Sunshine. She studied the patterns of non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) among 107 young people living with borderline personality disorder (BPD) and the relationship between those patterns and suicide attempts.
BPD occurs in about three per cent of young people. Its symptoms may include unstable emotions, impulsive behaviour, and problems with identity and self-image. The rate of suicide among people with borderline personality disorder is higher than that of any other psychiatric disorder.
Dr Andrewes said the research revealed that individuals who engaged in a ‘random’ pattern of non-suicidal self-injury over the 12 months prior engaged in a significantly higher number of suicide attempts and their acts of self-injury required significantly more medical attention than participants who engaged in a ‘habitual’ pattern of non-suicidal self-injury.
‘Random’ patterns of NSSI were identified as NSSI events that occurred inconsistently across a period of time, whereas ‘habitual’ patterns indicated NSSI events that occurred consistently across the same time period.
“These results suggest that clinicians should identify a client’s patterns of non-suicidal self-injury as changes in these patterns might be an indicator of a forthcoming suicide attempt,” Dr Andrewes said.
Dr Andrewes’ research was jointly supervised by Professor Andrew Chanen, Professor Carol Hulbert, and Professor Susan Cotton.