Impact of Therapist Change on Dropout in a Naturalistic Sample of Inpatients With Borderline Pathology Receiving DBT

Evangelisches Krankenhaus Bielefeld gGmbH

Status: Completed

Conditions: PostTraumatic Stress Disorder; Borderline Personality Disorder; Psychotherapy; Dropout

Treatments: Behavioral: Dialectical Behavior Therapy

Study type: Observational

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT03018639

DBT_dropout

Details and patient eligibility

About

Participants with Borderline pathology (≥ 3 DSM-IV-criteria) receiving an inpatient Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) program completed a quality assurance questionnaire set assessing demographic information and pretreatment psychopathology during the days of their inpatient stay. Beyond that, changes of therapists were documented.

Enrollment: 89 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18 to 65 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• three or more criteria for BPD as defined by DSM-IV (Borderline Personality characteristics; BPC)

Exclusion criteria

• inability to contract and consent,
• other severe mental disorders (bipolar disorder, acute psychosis),
• current alcohol,
• illicit or not prescribed drug use,
• simultaneous participation in other treatment studies,
• pregnancy or breastfeeding,
• an inability to negotiate a non-suicide agreement,
• ongoing traumatic contact with the perpetrator, and
• a Body Mass Index < 16.5.

Trial design

89 participants in 1 patient group

Dialectical Behavior Therapy

Description:

The program's purpose is to help patients achieve the following therapeutic goals: (1) reduction of suicidal behaviors, (2) reduction of therapy-interfering behaviors, and (3) other risky or destabilizing behaviors. Standard DBT aims to achieve these goals by (1) conveying behavioral capabilities (skills), (2) motivation for applying these skills, (3) generalization of learned skills to the patient's natural environment, (4) structuring the treatment environment to reinforce functional behavior, and (5) conveying therapeutic resources and motivation to effectively treat patients with BPD.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Dialectical Behavior Therapy