Efficacy of Transference-Focused Psychotherapy for Borderline Personality Disorder

Not Applicable

Completed

• Conditions: Borderline Personality Disorder
• Interventions: Behavioral: Transference-Focused Psychotherapy; Behavioral: treatment by experienced community psychotherapists

• Registration Number: NCT00714311
• Lead Sponsor: University Hospital Muenster

Brief Summary

The purpose of this study is to find out whether Transference-Focused Psychotherapy (TFP) is effective in the treatment of Borderline Personality Disorder.

Detailed Description

Borderline personality disorder represents a sever clinical condition that affects 1-2% of the community and is characterized by a pervasive instability of interpersonal relationships, self-image, and affects, as well as a marked impulsivity; up to 10% of the patients commit suicide.

Transference-Focused Psychotherapy (TFP) is one psychotherapeutic approach among five that have been manualized and evaluated in RCTs. So far, TFP has not been compared to a control condition which is a crucial step in the evaluation of the efficacy of a psychosocial intervention.

This study is an RCT that compares one year of outpatient TFP to treatment by experienced community psychotherapists for borderline personality disorder.

Study Timeline

• Study Start: 2004-10
• Study First Submitted: 2008-07-09
• Study First Submitted QC: 2008-07-09
• Study First Posted: 2008-07-14
• Primary Completion: 2009-02
• Status Verified: 2015-02
• Study Completion: 2015-02
• Results First Submitted: 2015-02-04
• Results First Submitted QC: 2015-02-04
• Last Update Submitted: 2015-02-04
• Results First Posted: 2015-02-16
• Last Update Posted: 2015-02-16

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: COMPLETED
• Sex: Female
• Target Recruitment: 104

Inclusion Criteria

• Written informed consent to the participation in the study
• Diagnosis of BPD according to DSM-IV as assessed using the SCID-II
• Age between 18 and 45 years
• Sufficient knowledge of the German language

Exclusion Criteria

• Diagnosis of schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, severe substance abuse, organic pathology, or mental retardation according to DSM-IV as assessed using the SCID-I
• Diagnosis of antisocial personality disorder according to DSM-IV as assessed using the SCID-II

Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: PARALLEL

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
TFP	Transference-Focused Psychotherapy	Transference-Focused Psychotherapy
ECP	treatment by experienced community psychotherapists	treatment by experienced community psychotherapists

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Drop-out	1 year	Did not finish one year of treatment.
Suicidality (Suicide Attempts)	1 year

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Borderline Symptomatology (DSM-IV Criteria)	1 month
Psychosocial Functioning (Global Assessment of Functioning, GAF-Score)	1 year
Level of Personality Organization (Structured Interview for Personality Organization, STIPO)	1 year
Number of Self-harming Acts	1 year
Attachment Style and Reflective Function (Adult Attachment Interview, AAI)	1 year
Self-assessment of Psychopathology (BDI, STAI, BSI)	1 year

Trial Locations

Locations (2)

Dept. of Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy, Medical University Vienna; 🇦🇹 Vienna, Austria

Dept. of Psychiatry, Technical University of Munich; 🇩🇪 Munich, Bavaria, Germany