Focus on Women: Use of Dialectical Behavior Therapy in a Partial Hospital Program for Women With Borderline Personality Disorder

Dialectical behavior therapy, an outpatient psychosocial treatment for chronically suicidal women with borderline personality disorder, has been adapted for use in a partial hospital program for women. Patients attend the program for a minimum of five days of individual and group therapy, and full census is 12 women. About 65 percent of participants meet at least three criteria for borderline personality disorder, and most have suicidal and self-injurious behavior. Their comorbid diagnoses include trauma-related diagnoses and anxiety disorders, severe eating disorders, substance abuse, and depression. The partial hospital program is linked to an aftercare program offering six months of outpatient skills training based on dialectical behavior therapy. Both programs focus on teaching patients four skills: mindfulness (attention to one's experience), interpersonal effectiveness, emotional regulation, and distress tolerance. Two years of operation of the women's partial hospital program provides promising anecdotal evidence that dialectical behavioral therapy, an outpatient approach, can be effectively modified for partial hospital settings and a more diverse population.