Dialectical behavior therapy: is outpatient group psychotherapy an effective alternative to individual psychotherapy? Preliminary conclusions

This study evaluates a 12-month-duration adapted outpatient group dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) program for patients with a borderline personality disorder in an unselected, comorbid population. If the results of this approach are comparable with the outcome rates of a standard DBT program, the group approach can have several advantages over individual treatment. One advantage is the possibility of treating more patients per therapist. A pre-post design was used to measure the effectiveness of an outpatient group DBT. Data from the Beck Depression Inventory II, the Symptom Checklist 90-Revised, the State-Trait Anger Inventory, the State and Trait Anxiety Inventory, of 34 female patients (mean age, 32.65 years) were collected before and after a treatment period of 1 year. Overall, a significant reduction (P < .05) of depressive symptoms, suicidal thoughts, anxiety, and anger was experienced by the patients. This study is a first attempt in showing that DBT in an outpatient group setting can be effective in reducing psychiatric complaints and therefore has several advantages, such as the opportunity to treat more patients at once.