Adaptation de la thérapie comportementale dialectique aux adolescents francophones, une expérience pilote auprès d’adolescentes avec dépression et trouble de personnalité limite

Abstract

BackgroundDialectical behavioral therapy (DBT) has been developed by Linehan and further adapted to adolescents by Miller (DBT-A). Current literature supports the efficacy of DBT for youth with suicidal/self-harming behaviours. However, no study has been published on the feasibility and clinical validity of DBT-A when used with francophone adolescents. MethodWe followed a two-step plan: (1) a feasibility study exploring the requirements for implementing DBT-A in French child & adolescent psychiatry services and the impact of DBT-A on the team functioning; (2) a pilot evaluation study with a 12-week pre/post-design including the standardised assessment of mental disorders encompassing borderline personality disorder (BPD), suicidal behaviors (SB), borderline phenomenology as well as the DBT-trained skills: mindfulness, emotion regulation and tolerance to distress. ResultsMost of the feasibility objectives were achieved. Regular team meetings helped building a common view on the appropriate multimodal treatment plan for self-harmers, integrating psychodynamic, dialectical behavioral, systemic and pharmacological perspectives. Efficient connection with the referring practician eased the implementation and monitoring of DBT-A for each participant. The pre/post-test study included six female adolescents (mean age: 14.5) with major depressive disorder (MDD) and BPD who committed at least two suicidal attempts prior to the admission in DBT-A. Over the 12-week post-test, a suicidal attempt (SA) was reported for one adolescent. At 1-year follow-up, SB was reported for 2/6 adolescents. Borderline symptoms significantly decreased over the 12-week DBT-A program (P<0.05). With respect to the DBT-trained skills, significant improvement was observed in emotion regulation (P<0.05). ConclusionWithin an integrated therapy framework, implementing DBT-A in French child and adolescent psychiatry services is feasible. Given our results DBT-A for female adolescents with MDD and BPD is worth considering.