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CompletedNCT03295838Updated Sep 28, 2017

Outcomes of Mentalization-Based Treatment for Borderline Personality Disorder

An interventional study of Mentalization-based treatment in Borderline Personality Disorder, sponsored by Karolinska Institutet. Completed. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2017-09-28.

Sponsored by Karolinska Institutet · Not applicable, Interventional, and Treatment

From the registry’s dates

  • Registered 10 years 7 months after the study started (first participant enrolled Feb 2007, registered Sep 2017).
Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
75
Allocation
Not applicable
Ages
18 Years and older
Sex
All
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Study summary

The effects of a psychological treatment, Mentalization-Based Treatment, was studied using a research protocol with patients with mood swings and impulsive behavior (borderline personality disorder).

Read the detailed description

Background: Mentalization-based treatment (MBT) in borderline personality disorder (BPD) has a growing evidence base, but there is a lack of effectiveness and moderator studies. The present study examined the effectiveness of MBT in a naturalistic setting and explored psychiatric and psychological moderators of outcome. Method: Borderline and general psychiatric symptoms, suicidality, self-harm, alexithymia and self-image were measured in a group of BPD patients (n=75) receiving MBT; assessments were made at baseline, and subsequently after 6, 12 and 18 months (when treatment ended). Borderline symptoms were the primary outcome variable.

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Conditions studied

  • Borderline Personality Disorder

Keywords

  • Borderline personality disorder
  • Psychotherapy
  • Treatment outcome
  • Pragmatic clinical trials as topic
  • Mentalization-based treatment
  • Alexithymia
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In context

Borderline Personality Disorder

278 studies on the registry are indexed under Borderline Personality Disorder; 70 are open to participants now.

This study's enrollment of 75 is close to the median of 70 across 221 interventional studies indexed under Borderline Personality Disorder.

Browse Borderline Personality Disorder studies →

Lead sponsor

Karolinska Institutet is the lead sponsor of 1,149 studies on the registry; 277 are open to participants now.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years and older
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No

Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.

Inclusion criteria

  • To be included, BPD diagnosis was confirmed by SCID-II interview and the Zanarini Rating Scale for Borderline Personality Disorder (ZAN-BPD) interview, together with a consensus discussion between MBT therapists using and ICD-10 criteria. All patients referred between 2007-02-01 and 2012-05-30 were eligible for inclusion.

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Exclusion criteria were: IQ\<85, psychotic disorder other than schizotypal personality disorder, acute/temporary psychosis, previously diagnosed autism-spectrum disorder, bipolar disorder type I and severe eating or substance use disorder.
Terms in these criteria, in plain language(1)

Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.

DSM diagnostic criteria

The American Psychiatric Association’s manual of mental health diagnoses. DSM-5 (2013, revised as DSM-5-TR in 2022) replaced DSM-IV, and some studies still name the older edition. “Meets DSM criteria for …” means diagnosed by that edition’s diagnostic criteria, usually by a clinician in an interview.

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Study design

Phase
Not applicable
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Not applicable
Intervention model
Single group
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
75 participants (actual)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    Mentalization-based Treatment

    MBT was conducted according to the treatment manual developed by Bateman \& Fonagy. Patients were offered individual sessions with a psychotherapist and group sessions with 6-8 participants and 1-2 group therapists for 18 months. An introductory psycho-educational component (9-12 sessions) was also offered focusing on explicit mentalising skills (i.e. understanding one's own or others' intentions). Group and individual MBT focused on implicit mentalising towards self and others.

    Behavioral: Mentalization-based treatment

Interventions

  • BehavioralMentalization-based treatment

    See Arm description

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Borderline Symptoms

    Key psychiatric and borderline symptomatology as measured by the Karolinska Borderline And Symptoms Scales (KABOSS-S) was the primary outcome measure. The KABOSS-S consists of three general symptom scales (depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive symptoms) derived from the Comprehensive Psychopathological Self-rating Scale for Affective Syndromes and one specific borderline scale compromising the items "Mood swings", "Ability to understand own emotions", "Self-control", "Self-soothing", "Feelings of abandonment", "Feelings of emptiness", "Self-image" and "Reality Presence". Each item is scored on a Likert scale from 0 ("no presence") to 6 ("severe").

    Time frame: 0-18 months

Secondary outcomes

  1. Suicidality

    Suicidality was measured by the Suicide Assessment Scale, Self-Report (SUAS-S), which covers factors known to influence suicide risk, such as affect, bodily states, control and coping, emotional reactivity, as well as suicidal thoughts and behaviour.

    Time frame: 0-18 months

  2. General Psychiatric Symptoms

    General psychiatric symptoms were measured using the Symptom Checklist-90 Revised (SCL-90-R), an established instrument with well-known reliability and validity.

    Time frame: 0-18 months

  3. Self-harm

    Self-harm was measured by the Deliberate Self-Harm Inventory-9 (DSHI-9), which has well-known reliability and validity. This measure was introduced halfway through the study period (N=42).

    Time frame: 0-18 months

  4. Alexithymia

    The Toronto Alexithymia Scale-20 (TAS-20) was used to measure alexithymia. It comprises 20 items divided into three subscales: Difficulty Identifying Feelings, Difficulty Expressing Feelings and Externally Oriented Thinking. TAS-20 was used to measure affective mentalization.

    Time frame: 0-18 months

  5. Self-image

    Self-image was assessed using Structural Analysis of Social Behavior (SASB). SASB is based on a circumplex model, measuring self-image and interpersonal interactions in relation to three interpersonal "surfaces" (i.e. actions of others, reactions to others and the introject, or what can be called the self-image. The third surface (self-image) was used, which comprises eight clusters of self-image: 1) Autonomy; 2) Self-affirmation; 3) Active self-love; 4) Self-protection; 5) Self-control; 6) Self-blame; 7) Self-attack; and 8) Self-neglect.

    Time frame: 0-18 months

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Study locations

No study locations are listed for this record.

08

References and documents

Publications

  • Lof J, Clinton D, Kaldo V, Ryden G. Symptom, alexithymia and self-image outcomes of Mentalisation-based treatment for borderline personality disorder: a naturalistic study. BMC Psychiatry. 2018 Jun 11;18(1):185. doi: 10.1186/s12888-018-1699-6. PubMed 29890960 ↗

Individual participant data

Plan to share: Yes — The dataset used and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Supporting information: Study protocol, Informed consent form, Analytic code

Time frame: 1st feb 2007 - 3rd may 2014.

Access criteria: Upon reasonable request.

09

Timeline

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
ElapsedEstimatedEstimated, not yet reachedSimilar studies: half by the dot; the band is the middle halfHalf of similar studies reached it by the dot; the band is the middle half, from a quarter to three quarters

Ran from Feb 2007 to primary completion in May 2014, 87 months.

Of 105 non-industry interventional studies with no phase under Borderline Personality Disorder, half reached primary completion within 35 months of starting (the median), counting those still running; a quarter within 24 and three quarters within 54. This study's 87 months is above that.

Counting every sponsor, half of 107 studies reached it within 35 months; a quarter within 24 and three quarters within 54.

How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.

Registered
Sep 14, 2017
First posted
Sep 28, 2017
StartActual
Feb 1, 2007
Primary completionActual
May 3, 2014
CompletionActual
May 3, 2014
Last update
Sep 28, 2017
What these dates mean
Start.
When the first participant enrolled; while estimated, when the study expects to open to recruitment.
Primary completion.
When the last participant was examined or treated to collect data for the study's main question, its primary outcome. A study that stopped early gives the date its data collection stopped.
Completion.
When the last participant's last visit took place, for every outcome, secondary ones and side effects included: the end of the study. Often later than primary completion, sometimes the same day.
Actual and Est.
Actual means the registry says the date has happened. Est. (estimated) is a date the sponsor plans or expects. It can still move, and the sponsor is expected to change it to actual once it has passed.
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Sep 28, 2017, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
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Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT03295838
Responsible party
Viktor Kaldo (Med PhD, clinical psychologist, associate professor, research team leader, Karolinska Institutet) — Principal investigator
First posted
Sep 28, 2017
Start date
Feb 1, 2007
Primary completion
May 3, 2014
Completion
May 3, 2014
Last update
Sep 28, 2017

Study contacts

Viktor Kaldo, PhD
principal investigator · Karolinska Institutet

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
No
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

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This study is completed, as verified in Sep 2017. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

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