Long-term continuation treatment after short-term day treatment of female patients with severe personality disorders: Body awareness group therapy versus psychodynamic group therapy.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate and compare the treatment effects of psychodynamic group therapy (PGT) and body awareness group therapy (BAGT) as outpatient treatment following day treatment for personality disorders.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: Twenty-one female patients given PGT were compared with 29 female patients receiving BAGT. The average length of outpatient therapy was 24 and 25 months, respectively. The patients were assessed trough the quality assurance system of the Norwegian Network of Psychotherapeutic Day Hospitals, including the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (M.I.N.I.) and Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-III-R Personality Disorders (SCID-II) for diagnostic purposes. Outcome was assessed using the Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF), Symptom Check List 90-R sum score (Global Severity Index, GSI), Circumplex of Interpersonal Problems (CIP), at admission and at discharge from day treatment, and at the end of outpatient group therapy.
RESULTS: Patients undertaking BAGT improved significantly on GAF, GSI and CIP, and reported high ratings of satisfaction with therapy and group climate at the end of outpatient treatment. The magnitude of change on GAF and CIP was significantly higher in the BAGT group compared with the PGT patients who displayed only minor changes after outpatient treatment.
CONCLUSIONS: BAGT is possibly an effective outpatient continuation therapy for women with severe personality disorders, but because of limitations of this study, these results warrant a larger randomized study.