Different routes to the same destination? Comparing Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fifth edition Section II- and alternative model of personality disorder-defined borderline personality disorder.

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is defined by the presence of at least five of nine symptoms in Section II of the , fifth edition. In the fifth edition, Section III Alternative Model of Personality Disorders (AMPD), BPD is defined by deficits in self and/or interpersonal functioning (Criterion A), elevated negative affectivity, and elevated antagonism and/or disinhibition (Criterion B). However, it is unclear if these definitions describe the same people and if the AMPD criteria explain unique variability in treatment outcomes in this population.

Skill Use Mediates the Within-Person Effect of the Alliance on Session-to-Session Changes in Anxiety and Depression in the Unified Protocol.

Objective: Both the therapeutic alliance and the specific skills taught in treatment are thought to contribute to change in cognitive-behavior therapy (CBT), but it is unclear if or how these processes influence each other and outcomes in treatment. We tested the hypothesis that the degree to which patients used CBT skills would mediate the relation between the alliance and session-to-session changes in anxiety and depression.

Method: Adult participants ( = 70; = 33.

Assessing Theories of State and Trait Change in Neuroticism and Symptom Improvement in the Unified Protocol.

Researchers have shown neuroticism decreases with treatment (Roberts et al., 2017), although it is unclear if this reflects fleeting state-level changes (state-artifact position) or trait-level change (cause-correction hypothesis). These theories further propose that changes in neuroticism predict symptom change (cause-correction hypothesis) or are predicted by symptom change (state-artifact position).

Within-person changes in aversive reactivity predict session-to-session reductions in anxiety and depression in the unified protocol.

The Unified Protocol (UP) theoretically leads to reductions in emotional disorder symptoms by reducing aversive reactions to emotions. However, aversive reactions can take many forms (e.g.

Aversive Reactivity: A Transdiagnostic Functional Bridge Between Neuroticism and Avoidant Behavioral Coping.

Aversive reactivity to negative affect has been described as a transdiagnostic mechanism that links distal temperamental vulnerabilities to clinically relevant behaviors. However, the abundance of constructs reflecting aversive reactivity has resulted in a proliferation of models that may ultimately be redundant. We performed a circumscribed review of studies measuring associations between six constructs - anxiety sensitivity, experiential avoidance, distress intolerance, intolerance of uncertainty, thought-action fusion, and negative urgency - and ten relevant coping behaviors.