title: Emotion regulation and substance use frequency in women with substance dependence and borderline personality disorder receiving dialectical behavior therapy.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) identifies emotion dysregulation as central to the dangerous impulsivity of borderline personality disorder (BPD) including substance use disorders, and DBT targets improved emotion regulation as a primary mechanism of change. However, improved emotion regulation with DBT and associations between such improvement and behavioral outcomes such as substance use has not been previously reported.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  Thus, the goal of this study was to assess for improvement in emotion regulation and to examine the relationship between improvements in the emotion regulation and substance use problems following DBT treatment.
  
  
  METHODS
  Emotion regulation as assessed by the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale, depressed mood as assessed by the Beck Depression Inventory, and their associations with substance use frequency were investigated in 27 women with substance dependence and BPD receiving 20 weeks of DBT in an academic community outpatient substance abuse treatment program.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Results indicated improved emotion regulation, improved mood, and decreased substance use frequency. Further, emotion regulation improvement, but not improved mood, explained the variance of decreased substance use frequency.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This is the first study to demonstrate improved emotion regulation in BPD patients treated with DBT and to show that improved emotion regulation can account for increased behavioral control in BPD patients. SIGNIFICANCE AND FUTURE RESEARCH: Emotion regulation assessment is recommended for future studies to further clarify the etiology and maintenance of disorders associated with emotional dysregulation such as BPD and substance dependence and to further explore emotion regulation as a potential mechanism of change for clinical interventions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06511, USA. seth.axelrod@yale.edu
authors.forename: Seth R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Axelrod
authors.forename: Francheska
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Perepletchikova
authors.forename: Kevin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Holtzman
authors.forename: Rajita
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sinha
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001521:Behavior Therapy; D001883:Borderline Personality Disorder / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy*; D017831:Diagnosis, Dual (Psychiatry); D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy*; D016896:Treatment Outcome