What Happens When You Diagnose A 14-Year-Old With BPD? | Teenage BPD Expert Professor Joost Hutsebaut

***What if the label everyone's afraid to give a teenager is the one thing that could save their future?*** Professor Joost Hutsebaut has spent a career working with young people on the edge of a diagnosis most clinicians won't touch: borderline personality disorder (BPD). In this episode, Joost explains why he wrote a paper called *The Diagnosis That Should Speak Its Name*, arguing it's ethically right to diagnose personality disorders in teens. We dig into where a "difficult personality" ends and a disorder begins, the real risks of stigma versus the risks of staying silent, and how his own philosophy - "make therapy simple again" - reshaped the way he practices. He also honestly answers some of the internet's most asked questions. Whether you're a clinician, a parent, or someone who's ever been told to "wait and see," this conversation reframes early diagnosis as an act of hope, not a life sentence. 🌱 Have questions, stories, or something you’d like us to cover? We’d love to hear from you. Email us at **bpddiariespodcast@gmail.com** and let’s keep the conversation going. 🎧 Looking for meditations made for emotional regulation, BPD, and more? Check out  *Empowered Heroes Meditations*  on ⁠⁠⁠⁠Spotify. If you’d like more support in your journey toward BPD recovery, Steff offers 1:1 sessions using evidence-based tools from DBT, Schema Therapy, and Mindfulness to help you heal. Email for a **free 30-Minute Consultation**:  📩 steff@bpdsupport.org or check out the website: **www.bpdsupport.org** 📚 **Referenced Research Includes:** Bomhof, C., Löffler, J. P., Brugman, S., Lodder, P., van den End, A., van Dijk, M. K., ... & Hutsebaut, J. (2025). The effectiveness of generalist (GIT-PD) versus specialist treatment (MBT/ST) for severe personality disorders (Personality Disorders Access to Effective Treatment, P-DAET): study protocol of a pragmatic randomised controlled non-inferiority multicentre trial. *BMC psychiatry*, *25*(1), 1107. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-025-07550-4 Clarke, S. L., Soons, N., Videler, A. C., van Alphen, S. P., Van, H., Dil, L., ... & Hutsebaut, J. (2025). The progress in the field of clinical staging for mental disorders within the last decade: an updated systematic review. *Frontiers in psychiatry*, *15*, 1473051.https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1473051 Hutsebaut, J. (2020). Make therapy simple again. *Tijdschrift voor Psychotherapie*, *46*(2), 96-106. Hutsebaut, J., Clarke, S. L., & Chanen, A. M. (2023). The diagnosis that should speak its name: why it is ethically right to diagnose and treat personality disorder during adolescence. *Frontiers in Psychiatry*, *14*, 1130417. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1130417 Hutsebaut, J., Willemsen, E., Bachrach, N., & Van, R. (2020). Improving access to and effectiveness of mental health care for personality disorders: the guideline-informed treatment for personality disorders (GIT-PD) initiative in the Netherlands. *Borderline Personality Disorder and Emotion Dysregulation*, *7*(1), 16. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40479-020-00133-7 Remeeus, M. G., Clarke, S. L., Feenstra, D. J., Van Eeren, H., Smits, M. L., Debruyne, S., ... & Hutsebaut, J. (2024). The (cost-) effectiveness of early intervention (MBT-early) versus standard protocolized treatment (CBT) for emerging borderline personality disorder in adolescents (the EARLY study): a study protocol for a randomized controlled trial. *Trials*, *25*(1), 261.https://doi.org/10.1186/s13063-024-08095-9 Renneberg, B., Hutsebaut, J., Berens, A., De Panfilis, C., Bertsch, K., Kaera, A., ... & 30 experts with lived experience–clients, relatives, significant others-from 10 European countries. (2024). Towards an informed research agenda for the field of personality disorders by experts with lived and living experience and researchers. *Borderline personality disorder and emotion dysregulation*, *11*(1), 14. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40479-024-00257-0