Abandonment Psychotherapy and Psychosocial Functioning Among Suicidal Patients With Borderline Personality Disorder: A 3-Year Naturalistic Follow-Up

Abstract

The authors present the results from a 3-year follow-up among 170 patients who had participated in the original randomized study, which consisted of three treatment conditions: (a) 3-month abandonment psychotherapy (AP) delivered by certified psychotherapists, (b) AP delivered by nurses, and (c) treatment as usual in a psychiatric crisis center. All subjects were recruited at the emergency room after a suicide attempt and met diagnostic criteria for borderline personality disorder and major depression. Psychotic symptoms, bipolar disorder, and mental retardation were exclusion criteria. At 3-year follow-up, 134 (78.8%) subjects had blind, reliable assessment by clinical psychologists. The intent-to-treat analysis indicated that those patients who had received AP during acute treatment had better global functioning, improved work adjustment, and less unemployment/disability at 3-year follow-up. No differences were found as a function of type of therapist delivering AP. The data confirm that short-term AP gains in psychosocial functioning are sustained over the longer term.

Is combined antidepressant medication (ADM) and psychotherapy better than either monotherapy at preventing suicide attempts and other psychiatric serious adverse events for depressed patients? A rare events meta-analysis

“…The present meta-analysis did not find evidence for a higher risk of subsequent suicide attempts the more extended the follow-up duration. A growing body of evidence indicates a rising prevalence of suicide attempts during the initial six months following a basal episode (Birtwistle, Kelley, House, & Owens, 2017;Cully et al, 2019;Liu, Lunde, Jia, & Qin, 2020) and that this timeframe might be the most optimal time to intervene to decrease the risk of suicide attempts and other serious psychiatric adverse events (Andreoli, Burnand, Frambati, Manning, & Frances, 2021). Together, these findings might imply the enduring preservation of short-term combined treatment benefits in decreasing suicide risk and improving psychosocial functioning across extended periods.…”

Is combined antidepressant medication (ADM) and psychotherapy better than either monotherapy at preventing suicide attempts and other psychiatric serious adverse events for depressed patients? A rare events meta-analysis

“…The present meta-analysis did not find evidence for a higher risk of subsequent suicide attempts the more extended the follow-up duration. A growing body of evidence indicates a rising prevalence of suicide attempts during the initial 6 months following a basal episode (Birtwistle, Kelley, House, & Owens, 2017;Cully et al, 2019;Liu, Lunde, Jia, & Qin, 2020) and that this timeframe might be the most optimal time to intervene to decrease the risk of suicide attempts and other serious psychiatric adverse events (Andreoli, Burnand, Frambati, Manning, & Frances, 2021). Together, these findings might imply the enduring preservation of short-term combined treatment benefits in decreasing suicide risk and improving psychosocial functioning across extended periods.…”