Borderline Personality Characteristics and Treatment Outcome in Cognitive-Behavioral Treatments for PTSD in Female Rape Victims
Section snippets
Participants
Participants were part of a larger study designed to compare the efficacy of cognitive processing therapy (CPT), prolonged exposure (PE), and a waitlist control for the treatment of PTSD in female rape survivors (Resick et al., 2002). All participants included in this larger study experienced at least one completed rape 3 or more months prior to study participation and met full diagnostic criteria for PTSD according to the DSM-IV (American Psychiatric Association, 1994). Exclusion criteria
Results
On the borderline personality dimensional scale of the SNAP, the participants had a mean BPC score of 11.83 (SD = 4.98), with scores ranging from 1 to 23. Thirty-nine women (25.2%) had scores of 15 or greater, indicative of a clinical level of psychopathology according to the SNAP manual (Clark, 1996). The BPC score was significantly correlated with pretreatment scores on the CAPS (r = .29, p = .001) and BDI (r = .33, p < .001), indicating that higher BPC scores were associated with higher levels of PTSD
Discussion
This study adds to the growing body of literature on borderline personality characteristics and PTSD. By utilizing a larger sample of women with PTSD as well as more comprehensive analytic techniques, this study improves upon previous research in this area and suggests that women with borderline personality characteristics can benefit from CBT treatment for PTSD. Specifically, although women with higher BPC scores were likely to begin treatment with more severe scores on a number of variables,
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Shireen L. Rizvi is now at the New School for Social Research.