Table 2 Review of diagnostic criteria of borderline personality disorder before (t1) and one year after therapy (t3) in the pilot study of Dialectical Behavioral Therapy for Adolescents (DBT-A)
Diagnostic DSM-IV Criteria of borderline personality disorder | Number of adolescents satisfying this criterion at the start of therapy (t1) | Number of adolescents satisfying this criterion one year after therapy (t3) |
|---|---|---|
Frantic efforts to avoid real or imagined abandonment | 9 | 3 |
A pattern of unstable and intense interpersonal relationships characterized by alternating between extremes of idealization and devaluation | 9 | 1 |
Identity disturbance: markedly and persistently unstable self-image or sense of self | 8 | 2 |
Impulsivity in at least two areas that are potentially self-damaging (e. g. spending, sex, substance abuse, reckless driving and binge eating) | 8 | 2 |
Recurrent suicidal behavior, gestures, threats or self-mutilating behavior | 12 | 5 |
Affective instability due to a marked reactivity of mood (e. g. intense episodic dysphoria, irritability, or anxiety usually lasting a few hours and only rarely for more than a few days) | 12 | 10 |
Chronic feelings of emptiness | 8 | 3 |
Inappropriate, intense anger or difficulty in controlling anger (e. g. frequent displays of temper, constant anger and recurrent physical fights) | 4 | 5 |
Transient, stress-related paranoid ideation or severe dissociative symptoms) | 0 | 2 |