Comparative Analysis of Modern Methods of Psychotherapy for Patients with Borderline Personality Disorder

Abstract

This literature review aims to evaluate the evidence in the extant literature of practical and evidence-based psychotherapy methods for overcoming personality disorders and to compare them with one another. For a systematic review, we used the following databases: ScienceDirect, ResearchGate, Cochrane, PsyNet, CrossRef, PubMed. As a result, 33 articles were selected. Dialectic Behavioral Therapy (DBT), Mentalization-based Therapy (MBT) and Schema-focused Therapy (SFT) have better evidence-based efficacy in the context of therapeutic effects on reducing the severity of diagnostic criteria and comorbid states. In the context of application in an outpatient setting the highest positive effect and compliances are demonstrated by DBT and SFT. The majority of trials of DBT and TFP showed the effectiveness of psychotherapy with a treatment duration of at least 12 months. The longest term without recurrence of comorbid states and drop out (36 months) was observed with the use of Transfer-focused Psychotherapy (TFP) and SFT, which in the context of the long-term therapeutic effect may give people benefits along with other therapies. The present review shows initial evidence that long-term psychotherapy can be a useful and evidence-based intervention for people with borderline personality disorder. These results provide promising evidence to support people who suffer from a personality disorder. DBT, MBT, and SFT can be proposed as methods of the first line as a nonpharmacological intervention.

Keywords

• psychiatry
• psychology
• mental health
• mental illness
• personality