The objectives of this study are 1) to test a group treatment program for women patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD) designed to decrease borderline symptoms and improve social functioning, and 2) to add to the understanding of the psychopathology of BPD by exploring a """"""""level of emotional awareness"""""""" model to conceptualize its learning deficits.
The specific aims of the proposed study are: 1) to test the efficacy of an 8-month, psychoeducation treatment program adjunctive to individual psychotherapy in reducing BPD symptoms, 2) to identify the characteristics of patients able to benefit from such treatments, 3) to explore treatment's mechanism of action, 4) to produce a treatment manual for the program, and 5) to provide training in the treatment of BPD. Forty-eight subjects who meet criteria for a BPD diagnosis using DSM-III-R, the Diagnostic Interview for Borderlines (DIB) and the Borderline Syndrome Index (BSI) will be randomly assigned to the treatment and waiting list control groups. The program's content is based on the deficits in emotional awareness, regulation, and expression and the consequent social, communication, and problem-solving skills like increased awareness of emotions, distress reduction, anger management, and need identification. It then moves on to interpersonal skills like emotional expression, communication, and conflict management. Treatment outcome measures include self-report (Symptom Checklist-90 SCL-90), Social Adjustment Scale-Revised), and structured interview measures DBI, Alexithymia Provoked Response Questionnaire). These measures will be given pre-treatment, post-treatment, and at a 6- month followup. A pilot study with nine subjects randomly assigned to treatment group and control provides strong support for the efficacy of this treatment program and the merit of a larger trial. Treatment group members improved significantly on all outcome measures (SCL-90, BSI, and Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF), while control subjects did not change significantly. This study will contribute to the much needed empirical evaluation of time-limited psychosocial group treatment for this difficult population.
