AIT-DBT
Section of Translational Psychobiology in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry / Section for Experimental Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
Title
Adolescent Identity Treatment compared to Dialectical Behavioral Therapy in Adolescents with Borderline Personality Disorder - a multicenter process outcome study
Project description
Personality disorders often begin in adolescence. Early therapeutic intervention can prevent a possible chronification as well as long-term impairment due to the personality disorders. In recent years, various treatment approaches have been developed for adolescents with borderline personality disorder (BPS). Overall, however, there are hardly any comparative therapy studies on the effectiveness of the different psychotherapeutic procedures for personality disorders in adolescence. The present multicenter study examines the effectiveness of the newly developed Adolescent Identity Treatment (AIT) in comparison to the established Dialectical Behavioral Therapy for Adolescents (DBT-A). The effectiveness of the treatment approaches is primarily assessed by the psychosocial functioning of the participating patients before and after the therapy. It is expected that AIT will lead to an improvement in the psychosocial functional level of adolescents with BPH comparable to DBT-A (non-inferiority hypothesis). In order to identify potential mechanisms of therapeutic efficacy of both therapeutic approaches, stress experience, arousal and emotional regulation will be continuously measured by psychophysiological, endocrinological and psychometric methods over the course of the treatment - both in the participating patients and their treating therapists. This type of process research is intended to contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of effective psychotherapeutic interventions in BPH. Treated patients are followed up regularly for up to two years after the end of treatment in order to assess the stability of the treatment effects. The study is conducted in cooperation with the Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Clinic UPK in Basel.