Abstract
Objectives: This study’s principle aims were to evaluate whether critical attitudes currently exist within community mental health teams towards people with a diagnosis of personality disorder, and to compare these results with past research, to anticipate whether any change has occurred over the last twenty years. Design: An experimental between subjects design was used. An email survey was employed based on a previous study titled: Personality Disorder: The Patients Psychiatrists dislike (Lewis & Appleby, 1988). Participants: Participants were clinicians working within Community Mental Health Teams across England. The sample included 355 clinicians in total. Roughly two thirds of the sample were female and in their early 40s. Measures: Clinicians were given one of seven vignettes to read, which were based on a GP referral. They differed on the diagnosis mentioned and the gender, class and ethnicity. Clinicians were asked to respond to a semantic differentials questionnaire, aimed at assessing their attitudes. Results: Strong effects were found for groups given vignettes stating previous diagnosis of personality disorder versus no personality disorder, whilst no effects were found for gender, ethnicity or social class. Conclusions: This research has demonstrated that negative attitudes towards individuals with a diagnosis of PD currently exist in clinicians working in Community Mental Health Teams. Clinicians tend to be more negative with respect to treatment outcomes and service suitability for this client group and were also likely to predict more negative emotional responses.