Identifying Change Targets for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Among Suicidal and Self-Injuring Women With Borderline Personality Disorder

Abstract

Research on psychotherapies for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is increasingly focused on understanding not only which treatments work but why and for whom they work. The present pilot study evaluated the temporal relations between five hypothesized change targets-posttraumatic cognitions, guilt, shame, general emotion dysregulation, and experiential avoidance-and PTSD severity among women with PTSD, borderline personality disorder, and recent suicidal and/or self-injurious behaviors. Participants (N = 26) were randomized to receive 1 year of dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) with or without the DBT prolonged exposure (DBT PE) protocol for PTSD. Potential change targets and PTSD were assessed at 4-month intervals during treatment and at 3-month posttreatment follow-up. Time-lagged mixed-effects models indicated that between-person differences in all change targets except guilt were associated with more severe PTSD, η² s = .32-.55, and, except for general emotion dysregulation, slowed the rate of change in PTSD severity over time, η² s = .20-.39. In DBT but not in DBT + DBT PE, individuals with higher levels of guilt and experiential avoidance relative to their own average had more severe PTSD at the next assessment point, η² s = .12-.25. The associations between the proposed change targets and PTSD severity were not bidirectional, except for general emotion dysregulation, η² = .50; and posttraumatic cognitions, η² = .06. These preliminary findings suggest that trauma-related cognitions, shame, and guilt, as well as problems regulating them, may be important change targets for improving PTSD in this patient population.

Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01081314.