Do personality problems improve during psychodynamic supportive-expressive psychotherapy? Secondary outcome results from a randomized controlled trial for psychiatric outpatients with personality disorders.

Studies involving patients with personality disorders (PDs) have not focused on improvement of core aspects of the PD. The authors examined changes in quality of object relations, interpersonal problems, psychological mindedness, and personality traits in a sample of 156 patients with Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed.) PD diagnoses being randomized to either manualized or nonmanualized dynamic psychotherapy.

Psychological distress and functional impairment in patients with personality disorders.

The study is aimed at investigating the impact of a personality disorder (PD) diagnosis, in terms of functional impairment and subjective distress, in order to better understand the burden of this diagnosis and its implications. Among the 462 consecutive psychiatric patients diagnosed with the DSM structured interview for Axis I, II and V diagnoses, almost 60% had PD. Patients with PD displayed considerable vulnerability and suffering in many domains, including finances and interpersonal relationships.

Manualized supportive-expressive psychotherapy versus nonmanualized community-delivered psychodynamic therapy for patients with personality disorders: bridging efficacy and effectiveness.

Objective: Time-limited manualized dynamic psychotherapy was compared with community-delivered psychodynamic therapy for outpatients with personality disorders.

Method: In a stratified randomized clinical trial, 156 patients with any personality disorder diagnosis were randomly assigned either to 40 sessions of supportive-expressive psychotherapy (N=80) or to community-delivered psychodynamic therapy (N=76). Assessments were made at intake and 1 and 2 years after intake.

Hypoxia increases 25-hydroxycholesterol-induced interleukin-8 protein secretion in human macrophages.

Interleukin-8 (IL-8) is a chemotactic factor for T-lymphocytes and smooth muscle cells and may therefore have an important effect in atherogenesis. It is secreted from oxysterol-containing foam cells which have been found in hypoxic zones in atherosclerotic plaques. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of hypoxia on the secretion of IL-8 by oxysterol-stimulated macrophages.

Patient factors predicting dropout from supportive-expressive psychotherapy for patients with personality disorders.

In this prospective study of psychiatric outpatients with personality disorders, the authors examined patient factors that predicted dropout from supportive-expressive (SE) psychotherapy. Eighty patients were randomized to 40 sessions of time-limited SE psychotherapy. The dropout rate was 35%; 50% of dropouts terminated psychotherapy before Session 7, and 10% were nonengagers.