Evaluation of AIT Study

Specialized treatment of personality disorders (PD) in youth has been neglected for a long time, because these disorders were not diagnosed before the age of 18. Since 2013 the age threshold has been dropped in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM)-5, and such change is also announced for the International Classification of Diseases (ICD)-11. There is broad consensus from both scientific evidence and clinical experience that specialized early interventions in adolescents with PD are urgently needed. In the last decades a number of specialized psychotherapeutic treatment programs have been developed. Despite their conceptual differences, many of the treatment models have shown significant effects in the treatment of PD in adults. However, the treatment of adolescents with PD remains difficult and further enhancement and development of treatments is needed. Given the different therapeutic approaches available, the present project aims to go beyond the comparison of integral therapeutic models in the classical outcome study design. While outcome research is important to build on the evidence of the effectiveness of an intervention, it contributes little to its understanding and refinement. The aim of the present multi-center project is to compare two therapeutic methods used in routine care: Adolescent Identity Treatment (AIT) Dialectic Behavioral Treatment for Adolescents (DBT-A) Treatments will be performed at different study centers and compared using the same measures of outcome. The main outcome will be psychosocial functioning. Additionally, the psychotherapy process will be investigated to explore specific and unspecific mechanisms of the therapeutic process, its outcome and mediators.

Psychotherapy, psychotherapy process, therapeutic alliance, psychotherapeutic change, psychophysiology

Integrative Approach for the treatment of adolescents with Personality Disorder. Manual was published in 2013.

Dialectic Behavioral Treatment for Adolescents is the most commonly used Approach for the Treatment of adolescents with Boderline Personality Disorder

Psychosocial functioning. Rated considering the results of the Columbia Impairment Scale - parent and patient versions

Structured Clinical Interview of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) (SCID)-II

Regression analysis will be used to evaluate change; Parameters: Heart Rate Variability and Electrodermal Activity (Basel only)

Inclusion Criteria: Identity Diffusion (AIDA T-score > 60) borderline Criteria (SKID-II) Exclusion Criteria: intelligence quotient (IQ) < 80 psychotic disorder pervasive developmental disorders heavy and persistent substance abuse major somatic or neurological disease hospital treatment

Millennium Institute for Research in Depression and Personality - Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile

Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Centre for Psychosocial Medicine, University of Heidelberg

Schmeck K, Weise S, Schluter-Muller S, Birkholzer M, Furer L, Koenig J, Krause M, Lerch S, Schenk N, Valdes N, Zimmermann R, Kaess M. Effectiveness of adolescent identity treatment (AIT) versus DBT-a for the treatment of adolescent borderline personality disorder. Personal Disord. 2023 Mar;14(2):148-160. doi: 10.1037/per0000572. Epub 2022 May 19.

Zimmermann R, Furer L, Schenk N, Koenig J, Roth V, Schluter-Muller S, Kaess M, Schmeck K. Silence in the psychotherapy of adolescents with borderline personality pathology. Personal Disord. 2021 Mar;12(2):160-170. doi: 10.1037/per0000402. Epub 2020 Apr 23.