Transference-focused psychotherapy v. treatment by community psychotherapists for borderline personality disorder: randomised controlled trial
- 1 May 2010
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Royal College of Psychiatrists in The British Journal of Psychiatry
- Vol. 196 (5), 389-395
- https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.bp.109.070177
Abstract
Background: Transference-focused psychotherapy is a manualised treatment for borderline personality disorder.Aims: To compare transference-focused psychotherapy with treatment by experienced community psychotherapists.Method: In a randomised controlled trial (NCT00714311) 104 female out-patients were treated for 1 year with either transference-focused psychotherapy or by an experienced community psychotherapist.Results: Significantly fewer participants dropped out of the transference-focused psychotherapy group (38.5% v. 67.3%) and also significantly fewer attempted suicide (d = 0.8, P = 0.009). Transference-focused psychotherapy was significantly superior in the domains of borderline symptomatology (d = 1.6, P = 0.001), psychosocial functioning (d = 1.0, P = 0.002), personality organisation (d = 1.0, P = 0.001) and psychiatric in-patient admissions (d = 0.5, P = 0.001). Both groups improved significantly in the domains of depression and anxiety and the transference-focused psychotherapy group in general psychopathology, all without significant group differences (d = 0.3–0.5). Self-harming behaviour did not change in either group.Conclusions: Transference-focused psychotherapy is more efficacious than treatment by experienced community psychotherapists in the domains of borderline symptomatology, psychosocial functioning, and personality organisation. Moreover, there is preliminary evidence for a superiority in the reduction of suicidality and need for psychiatric in-patient treatment.Keywords
This publication has 16 references indexed in Scilit:
- The impact of analytic method on interpretation of outcomes in longitudinal clinical trialsInternational Journal of Clinical Practice, 2008
- Out-patient psychotherapy for borderline personality disorder: Cost-effectiveness of schema-focused therapy v. transference-focused psychotherapyThe British Journal of Psychiatry, 2008
- Psychotherapies and Lasting ChangeAmerican Journal of Psychiatry, 2008
- Change in attachment patterns and reflective function in a randomized control trial of transference-focused psychotherapy for borderline personality disorder.Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 2006
- Two-Year Randomized Controlled Trial and Follow-up of Dialectical Behavior Therapy vs Therapy by Experts for Suicidal Behaviors and Borderline Personality DisorderArchives of General Psychiatry, 2006
- Outpatient Psychotherapy for Borderline Personality DisorderArchives of General Psychiatry, 2006
- Borderline Personality DisorderAnnals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 2001
- Treatment of Borderline Personality Disorder With Psychoanalytically Oriented Partial Hospitalization: An 18-Month Follow-UpAmerican Journal of Psychiatry, 2001
- Meta-analysis of screening and diagnostic tests.Psychological Bulletin, 1995
- Cognitive-Behavioral Treatment of Chronically Parasuicidal Borderline PatientsArchives of General Psychiatry, 1991