Background: Motive-oriented therapeutic relationship (MOTR) was postulated to be a particularly helpful therapeutic ingredient in the early treatment phase of patients with personality disorders, in particular with borderline personality disorder (BPD). The present randomized controlled study using an add-on design is the first study to test this assumption in a 10-session general psychiatric treatment with patients presenting with BPD on symptom reduction and therapeutic alliance. Methods: A total of 85 patients were randomized. They were either allocated to a manual-based short variant of the general psychiatric management (GPM) treatment (in 10 sessions) or to the same treatment where MOTR was deliberately added to the treatment. Treatment attrition and integrity analyses yielded satisfactory results. Results: The results of the intent-to-treat analyses suggested a global efficacy of MOTR, in the sense of an additional reduction of general problems, i.e. symptoms, interpersonal and social problems (F_{1, 73} = 7.25, p < 0.05). However, they also showed that MOTR did not yield an additional reduction of specific borderline symptoms. It was also shown that a stronger therapeutic alliance, as assessed by the therapist, developed in MOTR treatments compared to GPM (Z₅₅ = 0.99, p < 0.04). Conclusions: These results suggest that adding MOTR to psychiatric and psychotherapeutic treatments of BPD is promising. Moreover, the findings shed additional light on the perspective of shortening treatments for patients presenting with BPD.

A 20-session dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT)-informed skills training is a promising adjunct intervention for patients with borderline personality disorder, in particular for reducing problems related to social role. Increases in assertive anger mediate the effects of DBT-informed skills training, whereas rejecting anger remains unchanged over the course of treatment. Short-term objectives for intervention might involve the specific increase of assertive anger in BPD, by using DBT-informed skills training; long-term objectives for intervention might involve a specific decrease of rejecting anger in BPD.

The 24-item Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS, version4.0) enables the rater to measure psychopathology severity. Still, little is known about the BPRS's reliability and validity outside of the psychosis spectrum. The aim of this study was to examine the factorial structure and sensitivity to change of the BPRS in patients with unipolar depression. Two hundred and forty outpatients with unipolar depression were administered the 24-item BPRS. Assessments were conducted at intake and at post-treatment in a Crisis Intervention Centre. An exploratory factor analysis of the 24-item BPRS produced a six-factor solution labelled “Mood disturbance”, “Reality distortion”, “Activation”, “Apathy”, “Disorganization”, and “Somatization”. The reduction of the total BPRS score and dimensional scores, except for “Activation”, indicates that the 24-item BPRS is sensitive to change as shown in patients that appeared to have benefited from crisis treatment. The findings suggest that the 24-item BPRS could be a useful instrument to measure symptom severity and change in symptom status in outpatients presenting with unipolar depression.

There is evidence that a key feature in borderline personality disorder (BPD) is the difficulty to reflect on one's own as well as on other people's state of mind. So far, no study has examined the link between metacognition and symptom change presented by BPD patients across treatment. This preliminary pilot study represents a first step in describing impairments in different dimensions of metacognition and their connection with the symptoms presented by a N ϭ 10 BPD sample. The transcripts from the first and the penultimate session of a 10-session version of Good Psychiatric Management were analyzed. The global score and the 3 subscales of the Metacognition Assessment Scale-Revised were used to assess metacognitive abilities: Understanding of one's own mind, Understanding of other's mind, and Mastery. Symptoms were assessed with the Outcome Questionnaire-45.2. Results show a general low level of metacognition. Therapy sessions with BPD patients seem to be characterized by impairments in metacognition, notably in the reflection on other's states of mind and in the use of this information to solve conflicts and problems. Moreover, sessions highlighting a higher level of the Understanding of other's mind at the onset of treatment were linked with better outcome compared to sessions showing poorer metacognitive abilities in this area. Implications for an integrated treatment for BPD and future research are discussed.

Aim Despite its importance in nursing, perceived quality of the nurse–patient relationship has seldom been researched. This study sought to examine and compare the quality of caring attitudes and behaviours as perceived by haemodialysis patients and their nurses. Design This comparative descriptive study involved 140 haemodialysis patients and 101 nurses caring for them in ten haemodialysis units in the French‐speaking part of Switzerland. Methods Participants completed a sociodemographic questionnaire and the Caring Nurse‐Patient Interaction Scale (CNPI‐70). Results Both nurses and patients reported a high frequency of caring attitudes and behaviours. Patients gave higher ratings than nurses did on all the caring dimensions, except spirituality. Implications are discussed.