Management and effectiveness of psychopharmacology in emotionally unstable and borderline personality disorder.

The article by Paton and colleagues on the use of psychotropic medication in patients with emotionally unstable personality disorder (EUPD) in the current issue of JCP is an important article. Making the assumption that EUPD as defined by ICD-10 (F60.3) is reasonably equivalent to borderline personality disorder (BPD) as defined in the United States by DSM, we are provided some insight into how practitioners think about prescribing medications to people with EUPD/BPD. The article not only offers information as to the class of medication these practitioners are using but also provides reasons why, ie, for what clinical signs and symptoms, the medications are being prescribed.