Clinical Needs of Older Adults With Personality Disorders: Insights From State-Funded Mental Health Care Systems

Abstract

Objectives

Due to a longstanding focus on early to middle adulthood, research into the clinical needs of older adults with personality disorders remains limited. This study sought to further understandings into the potentially unique needs of this population.

Methods

Analyses compared comorbid psychiatric diagnoses, settings of utilized mental health treatment, and sociodemographic variables among older (aged 65+, n = 11,426) and younger (aged 18–35, n = 57,847) adults diagnosed with a personality disorder who received state-funded mental health care in the United States in 2022.

Results

Older adults with personality disorder diagnoses were more likely to have comorbid psychotic and delirium/dementia disorder diagnoses, less likely to have comorbid trauma and stressor, anxiety, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder diagnoses, and less likely to experience homelessness than younger adults with personality disorder diagnoses.

Conclusions

Findings highlight the importance of interventions to address co-occurring cognitive disorganization among older adults experiencing personality disorder pathology.