Background: Identity diffusion plays a central role in the onset of borderline personality and disorders. The Dialectical Behavioral Therapy for Adolescents (DBT-A) is a treatment program for adolescents with emotional instability and dysregulation. The interest of this study is to examine the influence of a standardized and certified DBT-A therapy program on identity development of adolescents with emotion dysregulation in an inpatient setting.
Methods:
138 adolescents aged 13 to 18 years with symptoms of emotional instability were assessed before and after a curricular 12-weeks in-patient DBT-A program with standardized instruments for the assessment of identity (AIDA), emotion regulation (FEEL-KJ, SEE) and general psychopathology (SCL-90-R, DIKJ).
Results: The results indicate a significant change in identity development, emotion regulation and general symptoms of psychopathology after treatment with DBT-A.
A connection between identity scales and psychopathological symptoms of adolescents with diagnosed borderline disorders and impaired emotion regulation could be established.
Conclusion: In this large sample of adolescents, DBT-A significantly improved identity and reduced identity diffusion. As identiy disturbance is a core symptom of borderline personality disorder, our results may become clinically relevant for the prevention of personality disorders in emotionally unstable adolescents