title: Integrating empirically supported therapies for treating personality disorders: a synthesis of psychodynamic and cognitive-behavioral group treatments.
abstract: This paper describes the theoretical foundations and components of an intensive group treatment program for individuals diagnosed with personality disorders. The Chrysalis Community Day Treatment Program integrates aspects of three empirically supported therapies: Transference-Focused Psychotherapy and Mentalization-Based Therapy, both psychodynamic psychotherapies, and Dialectical Behavior Therapy, a cognitive-behavioral therapy. Each of these modalities is structured for the treatment of individuals suffering from the symptoms of borderline personality disorder, and each of the treatments addresses problems that occur across a wide spectra of beliefs, capacities, and behaviors. The program is comprised of expressive, psycho-educational and skills-training groups, and participants attend three days per week, for 15 weeks. Preliminary evaluation is promising, reflecting decreases in self-injurious behavior, suicide attempts, psychiatric hospitalizations, and psychiatric symptoms at a one-year follow-up.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario. mr14@queensu.ca
authors.forename: Margo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rivera
authors.forename: Juliet L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Darke
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D054523:Adult Survivors of Child Abuse / Q000523:psychology; D000553:Ambulatory Care; D001883:Borderline Personality Disorder / Q000628:therapy*; D015928:Cognitive Behavioral Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010554:Personality Disorders / Q000628:therapy; D011575:Psychoanalytic Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D013811:Psychotherapeutic Processes; D011615:Psychotherapy, Group / Q000379:methods*; D016728:Self-Injurious Behavior / Q000628:therapy