DBT Skills Plus EMDR for BPD and Trauma

Not Applicable

Recruiting

• Conditions: Borderline Personality Disorder; Trauma
• Interventions: Behavioral: EMDR; Behavioral: Dialectical Behavioral Therapy Skills Training

• Registration Number: NCT04856449
• Lead Sponsor: Fundació Institut de Recerca de l'Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau

Brief Summary

Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is a severe disorder that frequently co-occurs with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The comorbidity of BPD and PTSD is more disabling, predicting lower rates of BPD remission. Dialectical behavioral skills training (DBT-ST), is a group-delivered training that covers four types of skills: emotion regulation, mindfulness, interpersonal effectiveness and distress tolerance. As a stand-alone treatment, research suggest that DBT-ST is an efficacious treatment for BPD. In parallel, EMDR has emerged in last years as an efficacious approach to adult trauma. However, so far, the efficacy of EMDR to treat trauma in populations with BPD diagnosis has not been tested. The present pilot randomized-controlled clinical trial aims to test whether a combination of DBT-ST plus EMDR could be efficacious to treat trauma in individuals with BPD. 40 participants will be recruited from the BPD Unit at the Hospital de la Santa Creu I Sant Pau (Barcelona, Spain) and will be randomized (1:1) to DBT-ST + EMDR or DBT-ST alone. The primary outcome will be the reduction of PTSD symptoms. In addition, symptom-related variables will be collected before and after the interventions. This will be the first study to test the combination of DBT-ST and EMDR.

Detailed Description

Not available

Study Timeline

• Study First Submitted: 2021-04-08
• Study First Submitted QC: 2021-04-19
• Study First Posted: 2021-04-23
• Study Start: 2021-09-06
• Status Verified: 2023-03
• Last Update Submitted: 2023-03-15
• Last Update Posted: 2023-03-16
• Primary Completion: 2023-05
• Study Completion: 2023-05

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: RECRUITING
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 40

Inclusion Criteria

• men and women between 18 and 60 years old
• having had adverse childhood experiences and/or current PTSD symptoms
• signed informed consent

Exclusion Criteria

• lifetime diagnosis of schizophrenia, drug-induced psychosis, organic brain syndrome, bipolar disorder, or mental retardation.
• participation in any psychotherapy during the study or having received DBT or EMDR in the past

Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: PARALLEL

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)	EMDR	EMDR will consist of individual therapy sessions that will be focused on processing traumatic memories. Participants will receive up to 16 individual EMDR sessions, of 60 min each.
DBT Skills Training	Dialectical Behavioral Therapy Skills Training	This intervention will consist of a 6-month-group DBT-skills training continuation, in which participants will be trained in mindfulness, emotion regulation, distress tolerance and interpersonal effectiveness.

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Borderline Symptom List 23 (BSL-23)	1 week	The scores range from a 0 to 4, with higher scores indicating a worse outcome.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Impact of Events Scale Revised	1 week	The scores range from a 0 to 25, with higher scores indicating a higher impact of the traumatic event (worse outcome)
DISSOCIATIVE EXPERIENCES SCALE (DES)	1 month	The scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores representing a worse outcome.
Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9)	2 weeks	The scores range from a 0 to 27, with higher scores indicating a worse outcome.

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau; 🇪🇸 Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain