Group schema therapy for personality disorders: a pilot study for implementation in acute psychiatric in-patient settings

Abstract Group schema therapy (GST) has been proposed as a novel long-term treatment programme for borderline and cluster C personality disorders. We implemented a short-term GST programme (12–15 sessions, based on the manual by Farrell and Shaw (2012), including both cognitive / behavioural and exp...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Psychiatry research 2017-07, Vol.253, p.9-12
Main Authors: Nenadić, Igor, Lamberth, Sina, Reiss, Neele
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Borderline personality disorder
Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT)
Cognitive Therapy - methods
Female
Humans
Inpatients - psychology
Male
Personality disorder
Personality Disorders - psychology
Personality Disorders - therapy
Pilot Projects
Psychiatry
Psychotherapy, Group - methods
Schema therapy
Treatment Outcome
Young Adult
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Summary:Abstract Group schema therapy (GST) has been proposed as a novel long-term treatment programme for borderline and cluster C personality disorders. We implemented a short-term GST programme (12–15 sessions, based on the manual by Farrell and Shaw (2012), including both cognitive / behavioural and experiential interventions for in-patients (n=9) with either borderline or cluster C personality disorders (and axis I co-morbidities) treated in a (sub)acute psychiatric in-patient setting. We evaluated pre- and post-treatment self-report of maladaptive and adaptive schema modes (using the SMI) and early maladaptive schemas (YSQ-3), as well as overall symptom severity (brief symptom check list, BSCL-53-S), patient satisfaction (ZUF-8) and group climate and coherence (GCQ-S). We found significant reduction of symptoms, and trend-level improvement for schema mode activation, but not maladaptive schemas. Effect sizes of Cohen's d=0.857 for symptoms and d=0.693 for maladaptive schema mode reduction were, however, lower than previous GST trials in in-patient settings with a longer treatment phase and outpatient GST trials using the Farrell and Shaw-model, indicating importance of duration in ST treatment. Our findings in this uncontrolled study provide first evidence that GST (based on the Farrell and Shaw model) can be implemented and adapted for use in short-term in-patient (sub)acute settings.
ISSN:0165-1781
1872-7123
DOI:10.1016/j.psychres.2017.01.093