Treatment Attitude and Therapy Outcome in Patients With Borderline Personality Disorder

This study investigated the degree to which two ways of defining attitude toward treatment (i.e., attitude toward talking with a therapist about problems, expectation for improvement) predicted therapy outcome. The sample consisted of 28 patients who participated in an open clinical trial evaluating the efficacy of cognitive therapy for borderline personality disorder and who completed assessments at baseline and 12-month follow-up (Brown, Newman, Charlesworth, Crits-Cristoph, & Beck, 2004). When attitude toward treatment was defined as attitude toward talking with a therapist, this variable predicted suicide ideation and scores on two measures of depression at the 12-month assessment. When attitude toward treatment was defined as expectation for improvement, this variable predicted scores on one measure of depression and number of borderline personality disorder criteria met at the 12-month assessment. These results provide preliminary evidence that positive attitudes toward treatment are associated with more clinical improvement, although future research should replicate this finding with a better developed measure of treatment attitudes.