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Review
. 2022 Oct 28:15:3179-3189.
doi: 10.2147/PRBM.S342257. eCollection 2022.

Perspectives on Dialectical Behavior Therapy and Mentalization-Based Therapy for Borderline Personality Disorder: Same, Different, Complementary?

Jutta M Stoffers-Winterling  1 , Ole Jakob Storebø  2   3 , Erik Simonsen  4   5 , Mie Sedoc Jørgensen  2 , Johanne Pereira Ribeiro  2   3 , Mickey T Kongerslev  2   3   5 , Klaus Lieb  1
Affiliations
Review

Perspectives on Dialectical Behavior Therapy and Mentalization-Based Therapy for Borderline Personality Disorder: Same, Different, Complementary?

Jutta M Stoffers-Winterling et al. Psychol Res Behav Manag. .

Abstract

Current evidence suggests that individuals with borderline personality disorder (BPD) are likely to benefit from specialized, or BPD-specific, treatments. Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) and mentalization-based treatment (MBT) are currently the most intensively researched BPD treatments. Reviewing the current research, this paper highlights similarities and differences between the two treatments, and discusses possible ways they could complement each other. As the effectiveness of specialized treatments for BPD in general has been determined with some certainty, research now tends towards individualized approaches, identifying predictors of optimal treatment response. However, it is still to be settled who might profit from a combination of or sequential treatment with DBT and MBT.

Keywords: DBT; MBT; borderline personality disorder; dialectical behavior therapy; mentalization-based therapy; psychotherapy; treatment.

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Conflict of interest statement

Jutta M Stoffers-Winterling is a board-certified psychologist, who has received training on dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT) and schema-focused therapy (SFT). Ole Jakob Storebø (OJS) is a certified specialist in child psychotherapy from the Danish Psychological Association. He is a board-certified therapist in group analysis. He was involved in a trial investigating group mentalization-based treatment (MBT) for adolescents with BPD (Beck 2020). Johanne Pereira Ribeiro (JPR) has nothing to disclose. Mickey Kongerslev is a certified specialist in psychotherapy from the Danish Psychological Association. He has received training in group analysis, cognitive behavioural therapy, and MBT. He received money, from private and public agencies, for teaching MBT for BPD, including supervising psychologists under training to becoming licenced “special psykolog” certified by the Danish National Health Authorities, and has published scientific articles together with the developers of this treatment. He also receives money for teaching and supervision in assessment and management of personality disorder. Mie Sedoc Jørgensen (MSJ) is a trained DBT therapist and conducted a trial on group MBT for adolescents with BPD (Beck 2020). MSJ was not involved in the evaluation of this trial. Klaus Lieb (KL) is a board-certified cognitive behavior therapist with a special interest in schema therapy. KL has been involved in trials investigating inpatient DBT (Bohus 2004); and inpatient SFT (Reiss 2014). He was not involved in the evaluation of these trials. Erik Simonsen is a board-certified therapist in group analysis. The authors report no other conflicts of interest in this work.

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