Rationale: Only one controlled trial is known that employed aripiprazole for patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD). This 8-week trial found significant changes on most scales of the symptom checklist (SCL-90-R), Hamilton depression rating scale (HDRS), Hamilton anxiety rating scale (HARS), and on all scales of the state-trait anger expression inventory (STAXI). OBJECTIVES, MATERIALS, AND METHODS: To assess the long-term effectiveness of aripiprazole with multifaceted borderline symptomatology, this 18-month follow-up observation with biannual testing was carried out with the same patients from the previous trial (treated with 15-mg aripiprazole daily, n = 26, 21 female and 5 male patients; previous placebo group, n = 26, 22 female and 4 male patients).
Results: According to the intent-to-treat principle, significant changes on all scales of the SCL-90-R, HDRS, HARS, and STAXI were observed in the aripiprazole-treated subjects after 18 months.
Conclusion: Aripiprazole appears to be an effective and relatively safe agent in the long-term treatment of patients with BPD.