Abstract

Objective: Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) was initially developed to treat symptoms of Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD), but has also been shown to improve symptoms of several other mental health conditions. Emotion regulation difficulties comprise a key target of DBT as well as a common challenge for individuals with depression, anxiety, PTSD, and other conditions. The current study investigated the impact of a DBT skills-training group on emotion regulation, and whether improvement in specific facets of emotion regulation would be linked to training in specific modules.

Method: One hundred and thirty-six patients diagnosed with heterogeneous mental health conditions participated in the study. Patients were enrolled in the group on a rolling basis, and emotion regulation was assessed at the beginning and end of every six- to eight-week module.

Results: Mixed model analysis revealed that each DBT skills-training module (i.e., mindfulness, distress tolerance, interpersonal effectiveness, and emotion regulation) was associated with improvements in emotion regulation (all Bonferroni corrected ps < .003).

Conclusions: These findings add to the growing literature on the applicability of DBT skills-training to heterogeneous psychological conditions, particularly when patients’ challenges reflect underlying difficulties with emotion regulation.

摘要

目的：辩证行为疗法（DBT）最初用于治疗边缘性人格障碍（BPD）症状，但也已显示出可以改善其他几种心理健康状况的症状。情绪调节困难是DBT的主要目标，也是抑郁症，焦虑症，PTSD和其他疾病患者的共同挑战。当前的研究调查了DBT技能培训小组对情绪调节的影响，以及情绪调节具体方面的改善是否与特定模块的培训相关。

方法： 136名被诊断患有精神疾病的患者参加了这项研究。患者以滚动方式入组，在每六至八周的课程开始和结束时评估情绪调节。

结果：混合模型分析显示，每个DBT技能训练模块（即正念，耐压，人际关系和情绪调节）都与情绪调节的改善相关（所有Bonferroni校正后的p s <.003）。

结论：这些发现增加了关于DBT技能训练对异类心理状况的适用性的文献，尤其是当患者的挑战反映出情绪调节的潜在困难时。