Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40877786›Full record

Trial reportBMC psychiatry2025

Emotion word repertoire in the adult attachment interview predicts a reduction of non-suicidal self-injury in the psychotherapy of borderline personality disorder.

S Schmitz-Riol, J Fuchshuber, J Herpertz, A Buchheim, S Hörz-Sagstetter, M Rentrop, M Fischer-Kern, P Buchheim, J Taylor, A Tmej and 3 more

Registry-linked trialAbstract readRandomized Controlled Trial
In one paragraph

Trial report in BMC psychiatry, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT00714311 (A Randomized-Controlled Trial of Transference-Focused Psychotherapy vs. Treatment by Experienced Community Psychotherapists for Borderline Personality Disorder), which is not on this map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
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1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

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.

2 · The registry

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.

NCT00714311 nacompletednot on this map

A Randomized-Controlled Trial of Transference-Focused Psychotherapy vs. Treatment by Experienced Community Psychotherapists for Borderline Personality Disorder

TypeinterventionalSponsorUniversity Hospital MuensterRan2004 to 2015Enrolled104ConditionsBorderline Personality DisorderArmsTransference-Focused Psychotherapy, treatment by experienced community psychotherapists
3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

13 authors.

S Schmitz-RiolFaculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
J FuchshuberDepartment of Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy, Medical University Vienna, Waehringer Guertel 18-20, Vienna, A-1090, Austria.
J HerpertzDepartment of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Charité - University Medicine Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
A BuchheimDepartment of Clinical Psychology II, Institute of Psychology, University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria.
S Hörz-SagstetterPsychologische Hochschule Berlin (PHB), Am Köllnischen Park 2, Berlin, 10179, Germany.
M RentropClinic and Polyclinic for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany.
M Fischer-KernDepartment of Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy, Medical University Vienna, Waehringer Guertel 18-20, Vienna, A-1090, Austria.
P BuchheimDepartment of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany.
J TaylorDepartment of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada.
A TmejDepartment of Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy, Medical University Vienna, Waehringer Guertel 18-20, Vienna, A-1090, Austria.
K L WeihsDepartment of Psychiatry, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA.
R D LaneDepartment of Psychiatry, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA.
S DoeringDepartment of Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy, Medical University Vienna, Waehringer Guertel 18-20, Vienna, A-1090, Austria. stephan.doering@meduniwien.ac.at.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundBorderline personality disorder (BPD) is characterized by mental representation deficits and emotion dysregulation, with non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) often occurring as a maladaptive regulation strategy. The ability to verbally express emotions might be advantageous for coping with emotion dysregulation and benefiting from psychotherapy.

methodsIn the present study, we used a novel text-based measure of emotional awareness to examine whether a greater emotion word repertoire (EWR) predicts improvement in psychotherapy for patients with BPD regarding NSSI, suicide attempts, attachment representations, mentalization, and personality organization. We conducted a secondary analysis of a randomized controlled trial comparing the efficacy of Transference-Focused Psychotherapy (TFP) vs. treatment as usual over one year in a sample of female BPD outpatients. The German electronic Levels of Emotional Awareness Scale (eLEAS) scoring system was applied to Adult Attachment Interviews (AAI) administered at baseline (n = 87; M

resultsIn both treatment groups, EWR at baseline was positively correlated with a reduction of NSSI after one year of psychotherapy (r = .46, p < .001). No significant correlations were found between baseline EWR and changes in other outcome measures. Compared to baseline, mean EWR scores significantly decreased after one year of treatment. DISCUSSION: Our findings indicate that a borderline patient's ability to verbalize emotions might be a resource facilitating a reduction of NSSI in psychotherapy. We discuss strengths and limitations of applying the eLEAS scoring system to open-ended texts in a psychotherapy context. Given the exploratory nature of this study, replication in future studies is warranted.

trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov (identifier NCT00714311, registration date 07/09/2008).

Indexed as

Borderline Personality DisorderEmotionsObject AttachmentPsychotherapySelf-Injurious BehaviorAdultFemaleHumansInterview, PsychologicalMentalizationTransference, PsychologyTreatment OutcomeYoung AdultBorderline personality disorderEmotional awarenessEmotion dysregulationEmotion word repertoireNon-suicidal self-injury

Identifiers

PMID40877786
PMCPMC12395692

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LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
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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.