Effectiveness of Cognitive Therapy in Treatment of Borderline Personality Disorders

Abstract

Background: treatment of borderline personality disorders includes in addition to medications several evidence-based psychotherapy treatment models, including schema focused therapy, dialectical behavior therapy, transference focused psychotherapy and cognitive behavioral therapy. Objective: this study aimed to evaluate all randomized controls trials of pharmacological interventions in comparison with psycho educational group interventions in the treatment of borderline personality disorders. Methods and Materials: this was an electronic search and it was conducted by using search strategy of cognitive psychotherapy and borderline personality disorder in MEDLINE, EMBASE and PsycINFO databases. Trials included in this review were clinical trials with cognitive interventions for subjects meeting DSM or ICD criteria for personality disorder. Results: the search of the literature, after exclusion of irrelevant, duplicated and review studies, revealed 24 randomized controls trials that met the inclusion criteria. Included studies aimed to assess the effectiveness of a cognitive behavior therapy in treatment of border line personality disorders. Conclusions: we concluded that the use of cognitive therapy is important in treatment of borderline personality disorder in addition to pharmacological treatment and treatment as usual. Doctors must choose the most effective type of cognitive therapy according to their patients’ diagnosis, duration of the treatment and the available resources.