Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gvvz8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-24T00:41:07.208Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Responding to the Treatment Challenge of Patients with Severe BPD: Results of Three Pilot Studies of Inpatient Schema Therapy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 March 2013

Neele Reiss*
Affiliation:
University Medical Center Mainz, Germany
Klaus Lieb
Affiliation:
University Medical Center Mainz, Germany
Arnoud Arntz
Affiliation:
Maastricht University, The Netherlands
Ida A. Shaw
Affiliation:
Indiana University School of Medicine/Midtown CMHC, Schema Therapy Institute Midwest, Indianapolis, USA
Joan Farrell
Affiliation:
Indiana University School of Medicine/Midtown CMHC, Schema Therapy Institute Midwest, Indianapolis, USA
*
Reprint requests to Neele Reiss, Goethe University Frankfurt, Department of Psychological Diagnostics, Postbox 111932, 60054 Frankfurt, Germany. E-mail. [email protected]

Abstract

Background: Schema Therapy (ST), a psychotherapy model integrating cognitive, experiential and behavioural interventions, was initially developed and evaluated as an outpatient treatment for patients with severe and chronic disorders, among them Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). Two randomized controlled trials have demonstrated the effectiveness of ST for BPD, delivered in an individual or group format, in the outpatient setting. However, the most severely impaired BPD patients are referred to inpatient treatment due to suicidality and severe self-harm. Specialized inpatient treatment programs are limited, with little evaluative research. Aims: The pilot studies are designed to be first steps in naturalistic clinical settings to evaluate the effects of an intensive inpatient ST treatment program. Method: This report presents the results of three independent uncontrolled pilot studies with a total of 92 BPD patients. The programs combine individual and group modalities and are consistent theoretically with the ST model for BPD patients. Results: Results show that inpatient ST can significantly reduce symptoms of severe BPD and global severity of psychopathology with effect sizes ranging from Cohen's d = 2.84 to Cohen's d = .43. Conclusions: Differences in the effect sizes across the three pilot studies could be explained by length of treatment, number of group psychotherapists and their training. Although there are limitations to the presented pilot studies such as differences in the samples, treatment settings, variations in the treatment itself and the use of different measures, which may have influenced outcome, they are a starting point for describing and evaluating inpatient treatment for BPD in naturalistic settings.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies 2013 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Arntz, A. and van Genderen, H. (2009). Schema Therapy for Borderline Personality Disorder. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell.Google Scholar
Bales, D., van Beek, N., Smits, M., Willemsen, S., Busschbach, J. J., Verheul, R., et al. (2012). Treatment outcome of 18-month, day-hospital mentalization-based treatment (MBT) in patients with severe borderline personality disorder in the Netherlands. Journal of Personality Disorders, 26, 568582. doi: 10.1521/pedi.2012.26.4.568 Google Scholar
Bateman, A. and Fonagy, P. (1999). Effectiveness of partial hospitalization in the treatment of borderline personality disorder: a randomized controlled trial. American Journal of Psychiatry, 156, 15631569.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bateman, A. and Fonagy, P. (2001). Treatment of borderline personality disorder with psychoanalytically oriented partial hospitalization: an 18-month follow-up. American Journal of Psychiatry, 158, 3642.Google Scholar
Bateman, A. and Fonagy, P. (2009). Randomized controlled trial of outpatient mentalization-based treatment versus structured clinical management for borderline personality disorder. American Journal of Psychiatry, 166, 13551364. doi: 10.1176/appi.ajp.2009.09040539 Google Scholar
Bohus, M. (2004). The Borderline Symptom List. NIMH International Think Tank on Effective Borderline Personality Disorder Treatment, The Conference Center at the Maritime Institute, Linthicum Heights, MD. July 9–11.Google Scholar
Bohus, M., Haaf, B., Simms, T., Limberger, M. F., Schmahl, C., Unckel, C., et al. (2004). Effectiveness of inpatient dialectical behavioral therapy for borderline personality disorder: a controlled trial. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 42, 487499. doi: 10.1016/S0005-7967(03)00174-8 Google Scholar
Bohus, M., Limberger, M., Frank, U., Chapman, A. L., Kühler, T. and Stieglitz, R. D. (2007). Psychometric properties of the Borderline Symptom List (BSL). Psychopathology, 40, 126132. doi:10.1159/000098493 Google Scholar
Bundespsychotherapeutenkammer (2011). BPtK-Studie zu Wartezeiten in der ambulanten psychotherapeutischen Versorgung. Umfrage der Landespsychotherapeutenkammern und der BPtK. Retrieved September 5, 2011 from http://www.bptk.de/fileadmin/user_upload/Publikationen/BPtK-Studien/Wartezeiten_in_der_Psychotherapie/20110622_BPtK-Studie_Langfassung_Wartezeiten-in-der-Psychotherapie.pdf Google Scholar
Chiesa, M., Fonagy, P. and Holmes, J. (2006). Six-year follow-up of three treatment programs for personality disorder. Journal of Personality Disorders, 20, 493509. doi: 10.1521/pedi.2006.20.5.493 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Conte, H. R., Plutchik, R., Karasu, T. B. and Jerrett, I. (1980). A self-report borderline scale: discriminative validity and preliminary norms. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 168, 428435.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Derogatis, L. R. (1994). The SCL-90-R: administration, scoring and procedures manual (3rd edn.). Minneapolis, MN: National Computer Systems.Google Scholar
Dickhaut, V. (2010). Individual and Group Schema Therapy for BPD Outpatients: new findings from research in the Netherlands. Paper presented at the 6th World Congress of Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies, Boston, MA, June.Google Scholar
Farrell, J. M. and Shaw, , , I. A. (1994). Emotional awareness training: a prerequisite to effective cognitive-behavioral treatment of borderline personality disorder. Cognitive and Behavioral Practice, 1, 7191. doi:10.1016/S1077-7229(05)80087-2 Google Scholar
Farrell, J. M. and Shaw, I. A. (2005). Surviving the Storm: treatment innovations for BPD. American Psychological Association Annual Convention, Washington, DC. August.Google Scholar
Farrell, J. M. and Shaw, I. A. (2010). Schematherapie-Gruppen für Patienten mit Borderline-Persönlichkeitsstörung: Das Beste aus zwei Welten der Gruppen-Psychotherapie. In Roediger, E. and Jacob, G. (Eds.), Fortschritte der Schematherapie. Konzepte und Anwendungen (pp. 235258). Göttingen: Hogrefe.Google Scholar
Farrell, J. M. and Shaw, , , I. A. (2012). Group Schema Therapy for Borderline Personality Disorder: a step-by-step treatment manual with patient workbook. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Farrell, J. M., Shaw, I. A. and Reiss, N. (2012). Group Schema Therapy for Borderline Personality Disorder. In van Vreeswijk, M., Broersen, J. and Nadort, M. (Eds.), Handbook of Schema Therapy: theory, research and practice (pp. 341358). Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell.Google Scholar
Farrell, J. M., Shaw, I. A. and Webber, M. A. (2009). A schema-focused approach to group psychotherapy for outpatients with borderline personality disorder: a randomized controlled trial. Journal of Behaviour Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 40, 317328. doi:10.1016/j.jbtep.2009.01.002 Google Scholar
First, M. B., Spitzer, R. L., Gibbon, M. and Williams, J. B. W. (1996). Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis I Disorders. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Publishing.Google Scholar
Giesen-Bloo, J., van Dyck, R., Spinhoven, P., van Tilburg, W., Dirksen, C., van Asselt, T., et al. (2006). Outpatient psychotherapy for borderline personality disorder: randomized trial of schema-focused therapy vs. transference-focused psychotherapy. Archives of General Psychiatry, 63, 649659.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Giesen-Bloo, J. H., Wachters, L., Schouten, E. and Arntz, A. (2010). The borderline personality disorder severity index-IV: psychometric evaluation and dimensional structure. Personality and Individual Differences, 49, 136141.Google Scholar
Gunderson, J. G. and Links, P. S. (2008). Borderline Personality Disorder: a clinical guide. Arlington, VA: American Psychiatric Publishing.Google Scholar
Jones, S. H., Thornicroft, G., Coffey, M. and Dunn, G. (1995). A brief mental health outcome scale-reliability and validity of the Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF). The British Journal of Psychiatry, 166, 654659. doi:10.1192/bjp.166.5.654 Google Scholar
Kroger, C., Schweiger, U., Sipos, V., Arnold, R., Kahl, K. G., Schunert, T., et al. (2006). Effectiveness of dialectical behaviour therapy for borderline personality disorder in an inpatient setting. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 44, 12111217. doi: 10.1016/j.brat.2005.08.012 Google Scholar
Lieb, K., Voellm, B., Ruecker, G., Timmer, A. and Stoffers, J. M. (2010). Pharmacotherapy for borderline personality disorder: Cochrane systematic review of randomised trials. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 196, 412. doi:10.1192/bjp.bp.108.062984 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lieb, K., Zanarini, M. C., Schmahl, C., Linehan, M. M. and Bohus, M. (2004). Borderline personality disorder. Lancet, 364, 453461. doi:10.1016/S0140–6736(04)16770–6 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Linehan, M. M. (1993). Cognitive-Behavioral Treatment of Borderline Personality Disorder. New York: The Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Reiss, N., Jacob, G. and Farrell, J. M. (2012). Inpatient schema therapy for patients with borderline personality disorder: a case study. In van Vreeswijk, M., Broersen, J. and Nadort, M. (Eds.), Handbook of Schema Therapy: theory, research and practice (pp. 301310). Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell.Google Scholar
Reiss, N. and Vogel, F. (2010). Stationäre Schematherapie bei Borderline-Persönlichkeitsstörung. In Roediger, E. and Jacob, G. (Eds.), Fortschritte der Schematherapie. Konzepte und Anwendungen (pp. 217226). Göttingen: Hogrefe.Google Scholar
Silk, K. R., Eisner, W., Allport, C., DeMars, C., Miller, C., Justice, R. W., et al. (1994). Focused time-limited inpatient treatment of borderline personality disorder. Journal of Personality Disorders, 8, 268278. doi: 10.1521/pedi.1994.8.4.268 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Springer, T. and Silk, K. R. (1996). A review of inpatient group therapy for borderline personality disorder. Harvard Review of Psychiatry, 3, 268278. doi:10.1067/3229/96/$5.00 Google Scholar
Stoffers, J. M., Voellm, B. A. and Lieb, K. (2009). Current Evidence of Efficacy for Psychotherapies of Borderline Personality Disorder: a meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials. In Proceedings of the XIth International Congress of the International Society for the Study of Personality Disorders. ISSPD.Google Scholar
van Asselt, A. D., Dirksen, C. D., Arntz, A., Giesen-Bloo, J. H., van Dyck, R., Spinhoven, P., et al. (2008). Outpatient psychotherapy for borderline personality disorder: cost-effectiveness of schema-focused therapy vs. transference-focused psychotherapy. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 192, 450457. doi:10.1192/bjp.bp.106.033597 Google Scholar
van Asselt, A. D., Dirksen, C. D., Arntz, A. and Severens, J. L. (2007). The cost of borderline personality disorder: societal cost of illness in BPD-patients. European Psychiatry, 22, 354361. doi:10/1016/j.eurpsy.2007.04.001 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wolf, M., Limberger, M. F., Kleindienst, N., Stieglitz, R. D., Domsalla, M., Philipsen, A., et al. (2009). Short version of the borderline symptom list (BSL-23): development and psychometric evaluation. Psychotherapie - Psychosomatik - Medizinische Psychologie, 59, 321324. doi:10.1055/s-0028-1104598 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Yalom, I. D. (2005). The Theory and Practice of Group Psychotherapy (5th edn.). New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Young, J. E., Klosko, J. S. and Weishaar, M. E. (2003). Schema Therapy: a practitioner's guide. New York: The Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Zanarini, M. C. (2009). Psychotherapy of borderline personality disorder. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 120, 373377. doi: 10.1111/j.1600-0447.2009.01448.x Google Scholar
Zanarini, M., Stanley, B., Black, D., Markowitz, J. C., Goodman, M., Pilkonis, P., et al. (2010). Methodological considerations treatment trials for persons with Borderline Personality Disorder. Annals of Clinical Psychiatry, 22, 7583.Google Scholar
Submit a response

Comments

No Comments have been published for this article.