Targeted Therapy Halves Suicide Attempts in Borderline Personality Disorder
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) reduced suicide attempts by half compared with other types of psychotherapy available in the community in patients with borderline personality disorder, an NIMH-funded study has found. DBT also excelled at reducing use of emergency room and inpatient services and more than halved therapy dropout rates compared to the mostly traditional approaches, report Marsha Linehan, Ph.D., University of Washington, and colleagues in the July 2006 issue of Archives of General Psychiatry.
Borderline personality disorder is a difficult-to-treat mental illness affecting up to two percent of adults, 5.8-8.7 million Americans, mostly young women. Although they account for at least 20 percent of psychiatric inpatient admissions, and frequently seek mental health services, patients with the disorder often fail to respond to commonly available treatments.
Noting that DBT is the only psychosocial treatment shown in multiple randomized clinical trials to be effective for borderline personality disorder, the researchers suggested that "DBT may be uniquely effective in treating suicidal individuals."
See the full article and research findings at DBT & Suicide.
Linehan MM, Comtois KA, Murray AM, Brown MZ, Gallop RJ, Heard HL, Korslund KE, Tutek DA, Reynolds SK, Lindenboim N. Two-Year Randomized Controlled Trial and Follow-up of Dialectical Behavior Therapy vs Therapy by Experts for Suicidal Behaviors and Borderline Personality Disorder. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2006 Jul;63(7):757-766.
Borderline personality disorder is a difficult-to-treat mental illness affecting up to two percent of adults, 5.8-8.7 million Americans, mostly young women. Although they account for at least 20 percent of psychiatric inpatient admissions, and frequently seek mental health services, patients with the disorder often fail to respond to commonly available treatments.
Noting that DBT is the only psychosocial treatment shown in multiple randomized clinical trials to be effective for borderline personality disorder, the researchers suggested that "DBT may be uniquely effective in treating suicidal individuals."
See the full article and research findings at DBT & Suicide.
Linehan MM, Comtois KA, Murray AM, Brown MZ, Gallop RJ, Heard HL, Korslund KE, Tutek DA, Reynolds SK, Lindenboim N. Two-Year Randomized Controlled Trial and Follow-up of Dialectical Behavior Therapy vs Therapy by Experts for Suicidal Behaviors and Borderline Personality Disorder. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2006 Jul;63(7):757-766.
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