title: STEPPS: a cognitive-behavioral systems-based group treatment for outpatients with borderline personality disorder--a preliminary report.
abstract: We describe a new cognitive-behavioral systems-based group treatment for persons with borderline personality disorder (BPD). The program is called STEPPS, an acronym for Systems Training for Emotional Predictability and Problem Solving. Briefly, the program combines cognitive-behavioral techniques and skills training with a systems component. The latter involves patients with BPD and persons in their system (e.g., family members, significant others, health care professionals). The program involves 20 two-hour weekly group meetings with two facilitators, is manual-based, and has specific goals to accomplish each week. Here, we review the background and development of the program, and present preliminary efficacy data from a subset of patients which suggest that patients experience improvement in BPD and mood-related symptoms. Survey results suggest moderate to high levels of satisfaction for the treatment from patients and therapists. A new scale, the Borderline Evaluation of Severity Over Time (BEST), developed to measure severity and change in persons with BPD, is described. We propose to conduct additional research to further validate the efficacy of STEPPS.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Iowa College of Medicine, and University of Iowa Health Care, Iowa City, IA 52242, USA.
authors.forename: Nancee
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Blum
authors.forename: Bruce
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Pfohl
authors.forename: Don St
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: John
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Monahan
authors.forename: Donald W
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Black
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect; D001290:Attitude; D001883:Borderline Personality Disorder / Q000628:therapy*; D015928:Cognitive Behavioral Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011581:Psychological Tests; D011615:Psychotherapy, Group / Q000379:methods*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results