TY - JOUR
T1 - How do patients with borderline personality disorder experience Distress Tolerance Skills in the context of dialectical behavioral therapy?—A qualitative study
AU - Schaich, Anja
AU - Braakmann, Diana
AU - Rogg, Mirco
AU - Meine, Clara
AU - Ambrosch, Julia
AU - Assmann, Nele
AU - Borgwardt, Stefan
AU - Schweiger, Ulrich
AU - Fassbinder, Eva
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Schaich et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
PY - 2021/6
Y1 - 2021/6
N2 - Distress Tolerance Skills (DTS) are an important component of Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT), a therapy method frequently used for treating patients with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). However, little is known about how DTS-training is experienced by individuals with BPD. The aim of this study was to explore BPD patients’ experiences with receiving DTS-training. Qualitative data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 24 individuals (87.5% females) with a primary diagnosis of BPD who received DTS-training in the context of 18 months of DBT treatment. Interview data were analyzed following the procedures of qualitative content analysis. Participants reported various effects of DTS including an immediate reduction of tension. Patients perceived DTS as a tool to cope with difficult interpersonal situations and emergencies and stated that this helped them to feel stable, safe and self-confident. Patients reported difficulties during the initial engagement, the learning process and the application of DTS as well as various facilitating factors. Implications of the findings for further research and for optimizing DTS-training in clinical practice are discussed.
AB - Distress Tolerance Skills (DTS) are an important component of Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT), a therapy method frequently used for treating patients with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). However, little is known about how DTS-training is experienced by individuals with BPD. The aim of this study was to explore BPD patients’ experiences with receiving DTS-training. Qualitative data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 24 individuals (87.5% females) with a primary diagnosis of BPD who received DTS-training in the context of 18 months of DBT treatment. Interview data were analyzed following the procedures of qualitative content analysis. Participants reported various effects of DTS including an immediate reduction of tension. Patients perceived DTS as a tool to cope with difficult interpersonal situations and emergencies and stated that this helped them to feel stable, safe and self-confident. Patients reported difficulties during the initial engagement, the learning process and the application of DTS as well as various facilitating factors. Implications of the findings for further research and for optimizing DTS-training in clinical practice are discussed.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85107985036&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0252403
DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0252403
M3 - Journal articles
C2 - 34129606
AN - SCOPUS:85107985036
VL - 16
JO - PLoS ONE
JF - PLoS ONE
IS - 6 June
M1 - e0252403
ER -