The novel use of clozapine in an adolescent with borderline personality disorder

Background: Clozapine has been used to good effect in the treatment of adults with borderline personality disorder, but there is scant evidence of it being used in an adolescent population with these difficulties.

Methods: Clozapine was trialled in an adolescent with a clinical presentation consistent with an emerging borderline personality disorder.

Results: There was a large reduction in the number of incidents involving abuse to staff, or harm to self, in the 8 weeks after commencing clozapine therapy, compared with the 8 weeks prior, and also a large reduction in the number of episodes of the use of seclusion in the 13 weeks after commencing clozapine therapy, compared with the 13 weeks prior. The young person was also able to be reintegrated in to the ward environment once established on clozapine therapy, which had not been possible full-time, for a whole year prior.

Conclusions: Although limited by involving just one adolescent, this very preliminary data does nonetheless suggest that clozapine may have a role in treating adolescents with emerging borderline personality disorder when other treatment options have been exhausted.