BROWN G. K.; NEWMAN C. F. ; CHARLESWORTH S. E. ; CRITS-CHRISTOPH P. & BECK A. T. (2004). An open clinical trial of cognitive therapy for borderline personality disorder. Journal of Personality Disorders (Special feature on suicide and borderline personality disorder), 18, 257-271.


Abstract - Although borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a major public health concern, psychotherapeutic trials have been limited. The present uncontrolled clinical trial examines whether cognitive therapy for BPD is associated with significant improvement on measures of psychopathology. A total of 32 patients with BPD, who also reported suicide ideation or who engaged in self-injury behavior, received weekly cognitive therapy sessions over a 1-year period as described by Layden et al. (1993). The results revealed significant and clinically important decreases on measures of suicide ideation, hopelessness, depression, number of borderline symptoms and dysfunctional beliefs at termination and 18-month assessment interviews. Implications for further research with this difficult-to-treat patient population are discussed.

Note: Participants showed continued improvement following the end of treatment. At the beginning of treatment, all participants met full DSM criteria for BPD, at the termination of treatment 48% met full criteria for BPD, and six months after termination, only 16% met DSM criteria for BPD.

Does this mean that CT cures BPD? Not necessarily. Participants who no longer met DSM criteria weren't necessarily problem-free. However, they showed improvement on a wide range of outcome measures including suicidality and self-mutilation.