title: First empirical evaluation of outcomes for mentalization-based group therapy for adolescents with BPD.
abstract: Adolescent borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a devastating disorder, and it is essential to identify and treat the disorder in its early course. A total of 34 female Danish adolescents between 15 and 18 years old participated in 1 year of structured mentalization-based group therapy. Twenty-five adolescents completed the study, of which the majority (23) displayed improvement regarding borderline symptoms, depression, self-harm, peer-attachment, parent-attachment, mentalizing, and general psychopathology. Enhanced trust in peers and parents in combination with improved mentalizing capacity was associated with greater decline in borderline symptoms, thereby pointing to a candidate mechanism responsible for the efficacy of the treatment. The current study provides a promising rationale for the further development and evaluation of group-format mentalization-based treatment for adolescents with borderline traits. (PsycINFO Database Record
authors.affiliation: Psychiatric Research Unit, Region Zealand.
authors.forename: Sune
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bo
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Houston.
authors.forename: Carla
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sharp
authors.affiliation: Child and Adolescence Psychiatry and Department of Psychology, University of Copenhagen.
authors.forename: Emma
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Beck
authors.affiliation: Child and Adolescence Psychiatry.
authors.forename: Jesper
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Pedersen
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Copenhagen.
authors.forename: Matthias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gondan
authors.affiliation: Psychiatric Research Unit and Institute of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen.
authors.forename: Erik
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Simonsen
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001883:Borderline Personality Disorder / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011615:Psychotherapy, Group / Q000379:methods*; D056345:Theory of Mind / Q000502:physiology*; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D035502:Trust