SynthesisThe Australian and New Zealand journal of psychiatry2018
Specialized psychotherapies for adults with borderline personality disorder: A systematic review and meta-analysis.
Synthesis in The Australian and New Zealand journal of psychiatry, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 47 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
47 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 166 citations in OpenAlex.
- A systematic review and meta-analysis on the efficacy of dialectical behavior therapy variants for the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder.European journal of psychotraumatology · 2024Pooled it
- Which psychotherapy is most effective and acceptable in the treatment of adults with a (sub)clinical borderline personality disorder? A systematic review and network meta-analysis.Psychological medicine · 2023Pooled it
- Effectiveness of outpatient and community treatments for people with a diagnosis of 'personality disorder': systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC psychiatry · 2023Pooled it
- Pharmacological interventions for people with borderline personality disorder.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2022Pooled it
- Psychological therapies for people with borderline personality disorder.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2020Pooled it
- Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing with and without Dialectical Behavior Therapy for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Comorbid Borderline Personality Disorder Symptoms: A Randomized Controlled Trial.Psychotherapy and psychosomatics · 2025Trial
- The Effectiveness of Dialectical Behavior Therapy Compared to Schema Therapy for Borderline Personality Disorder: A Randomized Clinical Trial.Psychotherapy and psychosomatics · 2024Trial
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- A pilot randomized controlled trial of mentalization-based treatment and structured clinical management for outpatients with borderline personality disorder in South Korea.Borderline personality disorder and emotion dysregulation · 2026Article
- Use of multisensory information as facilitator of group schema therapy for borderline personality disorder.BMC psychiatry · 2026Article
- Impact of a one-day training session on borderline personality disorder on stigmatising attitudes and beliefs of health personnel.BMC medical education · 2026Article
- The effectiveness of dialectical behaviour therapy training: a quantitative systematic review using Kirkpatrick's four-level model.Borderline personality disorder and emotion dysregulation · 2026Review
- Evaluating a brief MBCT programme for non-suicidal self-injury in individuals with BPD: a within-subject pre-post pilot study.Borderline personality disorder and emotion dysregulation · 2026Article
- Feasibility of online group schema therapy: A preliminary study with therapists in training for future application in borderline personality disorder.Internet interventions · 2026Article
- Psychological correlates of nonsuicidal self-injury in women with borderline personality disorder: a cross-sectional study to inform mindfulness-based interventions.BMC psychiatry · 2026Article
- Compassion-based positive psychology group intervention (CB-PPGI) for individuals with personality disorders awaiting intensive treatment: a mixed-methods study of preliminary outcomes and acceptability.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Neural predictors of psychotherapy response in borderline personality disorder: a mini review of neuroimaging studies.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2026Review
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- Beyond symptom improvement: transdiagnostic and disorder-specific ways to assess functional and quality of life outcomes across mental disorders in adults.World psychiatry : official journal of the World Psychiatric Association (WPA) · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 5 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveBorderline personality disorder affects up to 2% of the population and is associated with poor functioning, low quality of life and increased mortality. Psychotherapy is the treatment of choice, but it is unclear whether specialized psychotherapies (dialectical behavior therapy, mentalization-based treatment, transference-focused therapy and schema therapy) are more effective than non-specialized approaches (e.g. protocolized psychological treatment, general psychiatric management). The aim of this systematic review is to investigate the effectiveness of these psychotherapies.
methodsPubMed, PsycINFO, CINAHL, EMBASE and CENTRAL were searched from inception to November 2017. Included randomized controlled trials were assessed on risk of bias and outcomes were meta-analyzed. Confidence in the results was assessed using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation method. The review has been reported following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines.
resultsA total of 20 studies with 1375 participants were included. Specialized psychotherapies, when compared to treatment as usual or community treatment by experts, were associated with a medium effect based on moderate quality evidence on overall borderline personality disorder severity (standardized mean difference = -0.59 [95% confidence interval: -0.90, -0.28]), and dialectical behavior therapy, when compared to treatment as usual, with a small to medium effect on self-injury (standardized mean difference = -0.40 [95% confidence interval: -0.66, -0.13]). Other effect estimates were often inconclusive, mostly due to imprecision.
conclusionThere is moderate quality evidence that specialized psychotherapies are effective in reducing overall borderline personality disorder severity. However, further research should identify which patient groups profit most of the specialized therapies.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.