The History of the European Society for the Study of Personality Disorders
Origins and foundation, 2007–2010
The ESSPD began as one person’s wish for a European network. In the years before 2010, Thomas Rinne felt the need to establish a network of researchers, clinicians and administrators in the field of personality disorders in Europe. At the time (2003–2011) he was Vice-President of the International Society for the Study of Personality Disorders (ISSPD).
The occasion came in 2007, when the ISSPD congress took place in The Hague. There Thomas Rinne, Sjoukje Hartman-Faber and Henk Jan Dalewijk developed together the idea of forming a European society. A foundation was registered in the Netherlands first, and in 2009 the structure was transformed into a society, the European Society for the Study of Personality Disorders (ESSPD).
The founding board members were Thomas Rinne (Founding President), Sjoukje Hartman-Faber and Henk Jan Dalewijk.
The first elected board and the Articles of Association, 2010
The Society became operational at the 1st International Borderline Congress in Berlin (Germany), 1–3 July 2010, where the first membership assembly of the ESSPD took place. The Articles of Association and Bylaws of the ESSPD as a society, with its seat in the municipality of Utrecht, the Netherlands, were signed.
The purposes of the ESSPD were defined as stimulating scientific research in the field of personality disorders, bringing together scientists, stimulating the integration of scientific knowledge across the different domains of personality disorders, and promoting education and information in this field. Collaboration with persons with lived experience and their families was established from the beginning.
The first elected board was Anthony Bateman (President), Robert Jan Verkes (Treasurer), Ad Kaasenbrood (Secretary), Martin Bohus, Hans Nordahl, Roel Verheul and Dušica Lečić.
Presidents and boards, 2010–2028
Eight presidents have led the Society since 2010, each for a two-year term except the first.
- Anthony Bateman (2010–2014)
- Martin Bohus (2014–2016)
- Lars Mehlum (2016–2018)
- Stephan Doering (2018–2020)
- Babette Renneberg (2020–2022)
- Ueli Kramer (2022–2024)
- Michaela Swales (2024–2026)
- Chiara De Panfilis (since September 2026), with Christian Schmahl as President-Elect
The board members have been Thomas Rinne (2010–2016), Anthony Bateman (2010–2019), Robert Jan Verkes (treasurer 2010–2013), Ad Kaasenbrood (secretary 2010–2016), Martin Bohus (2010–2019), Hans Nordahl (2010–2013), Roel Verheul (2010–2012), Dušica Lečić (2010–2011), Andrea Fossati (2011–2013), Henk Jan Dalewijk (treasurer 2013–2019), Lars Mehlum (2013–2020), Stephan Doering (2013–2022), Theresa Wilberg (2013–2019), Sebastian Simonsen (2014–2020), Paul Moran (2014–2020), Andres Kaera (secretary 2016–2022, consultant since 2022), Babette Renneberg (2017–2024), Joaquim Soler (2017–2020), Svenja Taubner (2018–2024), Joost Hutsebaut (treasurer since 2019), Ueli Kramer (since 2019), Michaela Swales (since 2019), Ester di Giacomo (as young researchers’ representative 2019–2022), Chiara De Panfilis (since 2020), Bo Bach (2020–2022), Christian Schmahl (since 2020), Katja Bertsch (since 2022), Mariana Mendoza Alvarez (as young researchers’ representative since 2022), Rasa Barkauskienė (since 2024), Mickey Kongerslev (since 2024), Emanuele Preti (since 2025) and Charlotte Rosenbach (since 2025).
Many of them have served as consultants to the board at some point before, after or in the middle of their term, to ensure the smooth transfer of functions.
Boards by presidential term
| Term | President | Treasurer | Secretary | Board members and consultants |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010–2014 | Anthony Bateman | Robert Jan Verkes (2010–2013), then Henk Jan Dalewijk (2013–) | Ad Kaasenbrood | Thomas Rinne; Martin Bohus; Hans Nordahl (–2013); Roel Verheul (–2012); Dušica Lečić (–2011); Andrea Fossati (2011–2013); Lars Mehlum (2013–); Stephan Doering (2013–); Theresa Wilberg (2013–) |
| 2014–2016 | Martin Bohus | Henk Jan Dalewijk | Ad Kaasenbrood | Thomas Rinne; Anthony Bateman; Lars Mehlum; Stephan Doering; Theresa Wilberg; Sebastian Simonsen; Paul Moran |
| 2016–2018 | Lars Mehlum | Henk Jan Dalewijk | Andres Kaera | Martin Bohus; Stephan Doering; Anthony Bateman; Theresa Wilberg; Sebastian Simonsen; Paul Moran; Babette Renneberg; Joaquim Soler |
| 2018–2020 | Stephan Doering | Henk Jan Dalewijk (–2019), then Joost Hutsebaut (2019–) | Andres Kaera | Lars Mehlum; Babette Renneberg; Anthony Bateman (–2019); Martin Bohus (–2019); Theresa Wilberg (–2019); Sebastian Simonsen; Paul Moran; Joaquim Soler; Svenja Taubner; Ueli Kramer (2019–); Michaela Swales (2019–); Ester di Giacomo (2019–) |
| 2020–2022 | Babette Renneberg | Joost Hutsebaut | Andres Kaera | Stephan Doering; Ueli Kramer; Svenja Taubner; Michaela Swales; Ester di Giacomo; Chiara De Panfilis; Bo Bach; Christian Schmahl |
| 2022–2024 | Ueli Kramer | Joost Hutsebaut | Michaela Swales* | Babette Renneberg; Svenja Taubner; Chiara De Panfilis; Christian Schmahl; Katja Bertsch; Mariana Mendoza Alvarez; Andres Kaera |
| 2024–2026 | Michaela Swales | Joost Hutsebaut | Chiara De Panfilis* | Ueli Kramer; Christian Schmahl; Katja Bertsch; Mariana Mendoza Alvarez; Rasa Barkauskienė; Mickey Kongerslev; Emanuele Preti (2025–); Charlotte Rosenbach (2025–); Saskia Bamberger; Andres Kaera |
| 2026–2028 | Chiara De Panfilis | Joost Hutsebaut | Christian Schmahl* | Michaela Swales; Rasa Barkauskienė; Katja Bertsch; Mickey Kongerslev; Mariana Mendoza Alvarez; Emanuele Preti; Charlotte Rosenbach; Marsha McAdams; Andres Kaera |
* Since Ueli Kramer’s presidency in 2022, the office of secretary has been held by the President-Elect.
The board in September 2026
Since September 2026 the ESSPD board has been composed of Chiara De Panfilis (President), Christian Schmahl (President-Elect and Secretary), Michaela Swales (Past-President), Joost Hutsebaut (Treasurer), Rasa Barkauskienė, Katja Bertsch and Mickey Kongerslev (co-editors of the newsletter), Mariana Mendoza Alvarez (representative of early career researchers), Emanuele Preti and Charlotte Rosenbach.
The consultants to the board are Andres Kaera and Marsha McAdams, the latter as representative of the lived experience experts.
The biennial congresses
Following the success of the Berlin congress in 2010, the ESSPD has organised a congress every two years.
| Dates | Place |
|---|---|
| 1–3 July 2010 | Berlin, Germany (1st International Borderline Congress) |
| 27–29 September 2012 | Amsterdam, the Netherlands |
| 16–18 October 2014 | Rome, Italy |
| 8–10 September 2016 | Vienna, Austria |
| 27–29 September 2018 | Sitges, Spain |
| 2020 | Cancelled because of the pandemic |
| 10–12 October 2022 | Online |
| 23–25 September 2024 | Antwerp, Belgium |
| 7–9 September 2026 | Lausanne, Switzerland |
Awards
Every second year at the ESSPD congress, the Society issues several awards for the best poster presentations, together with the ESSPD Early Career Researcher Award. Since 2024 it has also issued the ESSPD Excellence Award, which recognises a recently published paper with a major impact on the field of personality disorders.
| Year | Early Career Researcher Award | Excellence Award |
|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Inga Niedtfeld | |
| 2014 | Michael Kaess | |
| 2016 | Marlies Houben | |
| 2018 | Holly Andrewes | |
| 2022 | Marialuisa Cavelti | |
| 2024 | Pavla Linhartova and Isabella Schneider | Marialuisa Cavelti |
| 2026 | Mariana Mendoza Alvarez and Majse Lind |
Clinical workshops in Eastern Europe
In addition to the congress series, a number of initiatives have been launched since 2015 and the mission of the ESSPD has broadened. The first of them was the workshop series. From 2015 the ESSPD has organised, in a biennial rhythm, the ESSPD workshops on personality disorders, to promote evidence-based practice in Eastern European countries. The clinical workshops are usually well received.
| Dates | Place |
|---|---|
| 4–6 June 2015 | Tallinn, Estonia |
| 6–8 April 2017 | Cracow, Poland |
| 6–8 June 2019 | Budapest, Hungary |
| 3–5 June 2021 | Online, because of the pandemic |
| 2023 | Cancelled for organisational reasons |
| 5–7 June 2025 | Riga, Latvia |
| 3–5 June 2027 | Vilnius, Lithuania (planned) |
Webinars
Over two years, from 2022 to 2024, the ESSPD organised approximately ten well-attended webinars on current topics in the field of personality disorders, among them early prevention, dimensional diagnostics, narcissism and interpersonal theories.
Sections
In 2019 the first so-called Sections were founded as part of the ESSPD: the Section for the Study of Aggression and Antisociality (chairs: Carlo Garofalo and Steven M. Gillespie) and the Section for the Study of Interpersonal Functioning and Social Cognition in PD (chairs: Chiara De Panfilis, Stefanie Lis, Zsolt Unoka). A third Section developed in 2025: the Section of Perinatal Personality Disorder and Parents with PD (chairs: Valérie Giroux and Charlotte Rosenbach).
The Sections provide a forum for ESSPD members with specific research interests to network, exchange scientific work, and promote their topics at ESSPD and other international conferences and journals.
The affiliated journal
In 2017 the scientific online journal Borderline Personality Disorder and Emotional Dysregulation (BPDED) became the affiliated journal of the ESSPD. This went along with a sponsorship of a limited number of online publications for ESSPD members and for competitively selected researchers in the field.
Collaboration with the ISSPD
In 2018 a memorandum of understanding was signed between the ISSPD and the ESSPD on strengthening collaboration between the two major organisations in the field of personality disorders. It established, for example, that the years of the two biennial conferences alternate. The notion of federation was formulated, with the ISSPD functioning as a federation overarching all other organisations, but the federation structure was never fully implemented.
In 2022 the ISSPD, with the collaboration of the ESSPD, terminated the effect of the memorandum of understanding and abandoned the term federation. The new ISSPD bylaws were accepted by the ESSPD, and the collaboration between the organisations was placed under the term coalition between partner organisations, to highlight the absence of hierarchy.
Membership and the Academy of Excellence
In 2016 the ESSPD became an Academy of Excellence, for which membership is possible only upon nomination. The criteria are outlined and checked by a membership committee, and candidates are presented to the ESSPD board. No membership fee is charged and membership is for life.
The Society today
The ESSPD currently counts 293 full members and 89 junior members from 29 countries. Some members have joined from non-European countries. Since 2023 the Society has an active group of persons with lived experience and family members, who are integrated into its structure and decision processes.
The board meets ten times per year and regularly consults the Advisory Board, which is composed of the Past Presidents of the Society.