Cross-sectional study finds a 19.3% personality disorder prevalence in outpatient forensic mental health, suggesting under-recognition and a need for systematic assessment.
Key Points
To evaluate the prevalence of personality disorder diagnoses across outpatient forensic mental health institutions and examine related demographic, clinical, and legal characteristics.
Conducted a nationwide cross-sectional study using clinical registry data from 15 outpatient forensic mental health institutions in the Netherlands.
Included all adult individuals receiving outpatient forensic treatment during 2023 (N=10,560).
Performed descriptive analyses to calculate diagnostic prevalence rates and evaluate differences across patient characteristics and legal variables.
At least one personality disorder was diagnosed in 19.3% of individuals, presenting as the primary diagnosis in 12.0% and an additional diagnosis in 7.3%.
The most common diagnoses were other specified or unspecified personality disorder, followed by borderline personality disorder and antisocial personality disorder.
Diagnoses were more prevalent among female individuals, middle-aged patients, those receiving voluntary treatment, and individuals involved in serious violent offenses.