Group schema therapy: the temporal relationship between early maladaptive schemas and global psychological distress.

Schema therapy is an effective treatment for personality disorders (PDs). The theory of schema therapy assumes that the decrease of global psychological distress is mediated by change in Early Maladaptive Schemas. The few studies that have investigated a temporal relationship have produced contradictory results.

Exploring the effect of group schema therapy and comorbidity on the treatment course of personality disorders.

Purpose Of Review: To provide an update of outcome studies of schema group therapy for personality disorders and the effect of comorbidity in order to explore whether schema group therapy might be effective for this patient group and what dosage is required.

Recent Findings: Studies of short-term schema group therapy for personality disorders with or without comorbidity show moderately effective results but the majority of patients fail to achieve full remission from global psychological symptom distress. Preliminary findings revealed that those unremitted patients might benefit from 40 to 60 sessions.

Psychological symptoms, early maladaptive schemas and schema modes: predictors of the outcome of group schema therapy in patients with personality disorders.

: This naturalistic study examined the outcomes of group schema therapy for patients with personality disorders (PD) and the effect of psychological symptoms, early maladaptive schemas (EMS) and schema modes on outcome. Assessments were made of 194 patients at baseline, during treatment, at treatment termination and at three-month follow-up. We used the Symptom Checklist-General Severity Index (SCL-GSI) to measure the remission-rate of global psychological distress and as a dependent variable in a multilevel model to conduct univariate and multiple variate analyses.

The influence of depressive symptoms on the effectiveness of a short-term group form of Schema Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for personality disorders: a naturalistic study.

Background: This naturalistic study examined the outcomes of Short-Term Schema Cognitive Behavioural Therapy in groups with personality disorders, and with high and low severity of depressive symptoms.

Methods: Assessments were made at baseline, at mid-treatment (week 10), at treatment termination (week 20) and at three-month follow-up (week 32) of 225 patients with personality disorders and high severity of depressive symptoms (PD-Hi) and patients with low severity of depressive symptoms (PD-Lo). The assessments focused on symptom (Symptom Checklist-90) and schema severity (Young Schema Questionnaire) and coping styles (Utrecht Coping List).

Mentalization-Based Treatment Versus Specialist Treatment as Usual for Borderline Personality Disorder: Economic Evaluation Alongside a Randomized Controlled Trial With 36-Month Follow-Up.

The authors present an economic evaluation performed alongside a randomized controlled trial of mentalization-based treatment in a day hospital setting (MBT-DH) versus specialist treatment as usual (S-TAU) for borderline personality disorder (BPD) with a 36-month follow-up period. Ninety-five patients from two Dutch treatment institutes were randomly assigned. Societal costs were compared with the proportion of BPD remissions and quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) measured using the five-dimensional EuroQol instrument.

The effect of comorbid personality disorder on depression outcome after short-term psychotherapy in a randomised clinical trial.

Background: Time-limited psychotherapy for depression is effective. However, comorbid personality disorders affect therapy outcomes negatively. Studies of follow-up effects and results relating to the influence of comorbid personality disorder and treatment modality are scarce.