Clinical significance of outcome in long‐term follow‐up of borderline patients at a day hospital

Abstract

All borderline patients admitted at a day hospital during a 6‐year period were followed up with a postal questionnaire after 3–10 years. Patients who had chosen to leave the treatment within 4 months were analyzed as a separate group, and these drop‐outs and the remaining patients were compared with a group of well‐adjusted people who were assumed to represent the functional norm. The patients who remained in treatment were clearly posited at a level of functioning between the norm and the drop‐outs, although the variation among them was quite large. Depending on the stringency and content of the criterion of clinical significance, 25–75% of the patients remaining in treatment fell within the range of the norm group versus 20–50% of the drop‐outs. The patients who had benefited most since termination had differed favorably from the other patients already at admission to treatment, but not as much as had the drop‐outs. The drop‐outs, however, at admission also had more ambivalent or negative attitudes towards treatment.