[The impact of crisis intervention on the management of patients with personality disorder].

The aim of this study was to investigate in psychiatric emergency unit at Hospital Center of Luxembourg the impact of crisis intervention on the management of patients with personality disorder. There were included in this study all the patients with the diagnosis of personality disorder (axis II, criteria DSM IV), even the reason for emergency consultation was related to a disorder diagnosed on the axis I (criteria DSM IV). Data were retrospectively collected to compare patients examined in the psychiatric emergency unit during five months, from 1st September 2001 to 31st January 2002, with those examined from 1st September 2002 to 31st January 2003 and able to benefit from a crisis intervention. The results show a significant reduction of voluntary hospitalizations and a significant increase of the number of patients with more than five outpatient consultations, after the introduction of crisis interventions. The theoretical frame of our psychotherapeutic interventions is briefly exposed. The results of this study emphasize the importance of crisis interventions in psychiatry for improving the management of patients with a personality disorder.