Mindfulness skills in borderline personality disorder patients during dialectical behavior therapy: preliminary results.
Journal article

Mindfulness skills in borderline personality disorder patients during dialectical behavior therapy: preliminary results.

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  • 2012-03-27
Published in:
  • International journal of psychiatry in clinical practice. - 2012
English OBJECTIVE
One of the components of dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) is the use of mindfulness skills as a core component of treatment for subjects with borderline personality disorder (BPD). In this study, we investigated changes in and correlates of mindfulness skills over a 1-year follow-up including a 4-week session of intensive DBT followed by 10 months of standard DBT.


METHODS
Fifty-two BPD subjects were assessed several times using the Kentucky Inventory of Mindfulness Skills (KIMS) which describes mindfulness in four discrete dimensions: observing (Obs), describing (Des), acting with awareness (AwA) and accepting without judgment (AwJ).


RESULTS
AwJ was the only dimension that increased significantly over time after adjustment for potential confounding factors (β = 0.24; P = 0.0002). Increases in AwJ correlated with improvement in BPD symptoms.


CONCLUSIONS
This study highlights the usefulness of investigating changes in mindfulness dimensions during DBT. AwJ is a possible mechanism for positive change. Encouraging this skill should lead to a more adaptive response to problematic situations and counteract impulsive and problematic behaviors. The lack of specific control groups means that these findings are preliminary and replication is required.
Language
  • English
Open access status
closed
Identifiers
Persistent URL
https://sonar.ch/global/documents/118178
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