Effectiveness of Short-Term Inpatient Psychotherapy Based on Transactional Analysis With Patients With Personality Disorders: A Matched Control Study Using Propensity Score

Abstract

Controlled studies on the effectiveness of inpatient psychotherapy with patients with personality disorders (PD) are rare. This study aims to compare 3-month short-term inpatient psychotherapy based on transactional analysis (STIP-TA) with other psychotherapies (OP) up to 36-month follow-up. PD patients treated with STIP-TA were matched with OP patients using the propensity score. The primary outcome measure was general psychiatric symptomatology; secondary outcomes were psychosocial functioning and quality of life. In 67 pairs of patients, both STIP-TA and OP showed large symptomatic and functional improvements. However, STIP-TA patients showed more symptomatic improvement at all time points compared to OP patients. At 36 months, 68% of STIP-TA patients were symptomatically recovered compared to 48% of OP patients. STIP-TA outperformed OP in terms of improvements in general psychiatric symptomatology and quality of life. Superiority of STIP-TA was most pronounced at 12-month follow-up, but remained intact over the course of the 3-year follow-up.

Four years comparative follow‐up evaluation of community‐based, step‐down, and residential specialist psychodynamic programmes for personality disorders

“…and "stabilization" (Horn et al, 2015;Leichsenring et al, 2016;Siefert, 2012;Vermote et al, 2015). These studies show that in some settings, short-stay inpatient treatments are associated with relatively good outcomes.…”

“…The small effect size ( g = 0.11) found in GSI obtained by RT‐CBP during the 6‐month inpatient stage of treatment indicates that most of the improvement achieved was ascribable to the effects of CBP after discharge from the residential setting. This finding has to be measured against studies that claim, albeit in a qualified fashion, that borderline PD patients may require brief hospital admissions for “containment” and “stabilization” (Horn et al, ; Leichsenring et al, ; Siefert, ; Vermote et al, ). These studies show that in some settings, short‐stay inpatient treatments are associated with relatively good outcomes.…”

Measuring the contribution of art therapy in multidisciplinary treatment of personality disorders: The construction of the Self‐expression and Emotion Regulation in Art Therapy Scale (SERATS)

“…The SERATS does not measure exactly the same as general mental health functioning nor ‘acceptance and experiential avoidance’. A possible explanation for this is that the OQ45 items focus on general mental distress that the AAQ‐II items focus mainly on cognitive processes (negative thoughts, worries, remembrances, felt control in life and reactions to feelings), whereas experiential activity in art therapy is much less cognitive; it is often less conscious and focused on acceptance of feelings as well as here‐and‐now awareness . The comparison between a specific measure (linked to the intervention of art therapy) and a more general measure can be complicated.…”

Effects of a Transactional Analysis Program on Adolescents’ Emotion Regulation

“…So far, a lot of the transactional analysis studies have been executed on pathology (Chiesa, 2014;De Graaf & Rosseau, 2015;Eusden & Pierini, 2015;Tseng, Kawabata, Gau, & Crick, 2014;Horn et al, 2015;Pierini, 2014;Van Rijn & Wild, 2016). Transactional analysis was originally developed in psychotherapy; yet, it is deployed in education, counseling, and organizations (Corey, 2009;Morris, 2006;Vinella, 2013).…”