Dialectical Behavior Therapy in the Treatment of Borderline Personality Disorder: Effectiveness of Therapy, Factors Predicting Therapy Outcomes and Drop-out

Abstract

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a mental health problem characterized by rapid mood changes, impaired interpersonal relationships, anger, impulsivity, and self-harming behavior. Since BPD threatens the psychological and physical health as well as the functionality of the individual, its treatment becomes increasingly important. Although dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT) is one of the most effective methods for BPD, it is seen that the factors responsible for change in therapy are mostly not defined and drop-out is not adequately addressed in the outcome studies. In this article, it is aimed to examine the change and how the change occurs on the basis of DBT in BPD by investigating the factors that predict the therapy outcomes. For the purposes, firstly, DBT will be mentioned briefly; the effectiveness of DBT and the dropout rates will be reviewed. Then, the “change” in therapy will be discussed. Finally, the factors responsible for change will be summarized with research findings on that predicting therapy outcomes and drop-out. In the discussion section, along with the findings summarized, the “difficult to treat” bias towards BPD will be evaluated. Finally, suggestions for future studies will be presented.