Mechanisms of Change in Treatments of Personality Disorders: Commentary on the Special Section.

Abstract

Personality disorders (PDs) come in a large variety of presentations, severely affect the individual's social and emotional functioning, and are notoriously complex to treat. To make treatments for individuals with PDs more potent, there is a need to better understand how and why these treatments work. The articles assembled for this special section propose potential mechanisms of change within PD patients that may be addressed in future process-outcome research. Although the studies are exploratory and were limited by their scope and heterogeneity of their samples, they illustrate the importance of process research as nomothetic and idiographic building blocks toward a multifaceted understanding of change processes in PDs and their treatment. In this discussion, the authors aim to foster interest in the potential mechanisms of change in PD treatments and inspire further research by providing several methodological considerations for future process-outcome research and its potential clinical implications.