Psychotic-Like Experiences in Young People with BPD Traits

  • Research type

    Research Study

  • Full title

    Psychotic-Like Experiences in Help Seeking Young People with Borderline Personality Traits: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis of Experiences

  • IRAS ID

    237619

  • Contact name

    Aisya Musa

  • Contact email

    a.musa@uea.ac.uk

  • Sponsor organisation

    University of East Anglia

  • Duration of Study in the UK

    1 years, 7 months, 19 days

  • Research summary

    Psychotic-like experiences include hearing and seeing things that others can’t, altered patterns of thinking, and spiritual experiences. These experiences can be distressing and are often associated with psychosis. However, research shows that unusual experiences are also common in other mental health conditions and in people who don’t have mental health problems. It is common for unusual experiences to occur in young people who struggle with understanding who they are, who have difficulties with very strong and changeable emotions, and who find relationships with other people difficult. These difficulties are sometimes called borderline personality traits. \n\nWhilst we know quite a lot about what helps people with psychosis cope with unusual experiences, we don’t know very much about these experiences in young people with borderline personality traits. Therefore, we don’t know if the same treatments will be useful. This project will seek to interview young people between the age of 16 to 25 who describe themselves as having unusual experiences and borderline personality traits and who are receiving care from the Norfolk Youth Service. We will ask the young people who take part in this study questions about their unusual experiences, including how often they happen and how distressing they find them. We are also interested in how people make sense of their experiences and what they do to cope with them. The interview will take approximately 1 hour and 30 minutes to complete.

  • REC name

    South West - Frenchay Research Ethics Committee

  • REC reference

    18/SW/0046

  • Date of REC Opinion

    19 Mar 2018

  • REC opinion

    Further Information Favourable Opinion