Abstract
Objective: To conduct a pilot survey about clinician views on defensive practice when working with adults with borderline personality disorder.
Method: All mental health clinicians from adult community, crisis and inpatient services of a district public mental health service who attended a routine team meeting completed a survey questionnaire (n = 29).
Results: Defensive practice was common, with 85% of clinicians having practised in the previous year in a manner that they believed was not in the best interests of their patients.
Conclusions: The findings support clinical impressions of a significant gap between clinician views on best practice and actual practice. The potential importance of the findings warrants a comprehensive multicentred study.