NCJ Number
204728
Journal
Child & Adolescent Psychiatry Volume: 43 Issue: 3 Dated: March 2004 Pages: 276-282
Date Published
March 2004
Length
7 pages
Annotation
This study tested the hypothesis that dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) could be effectively implemented in a child and adolescent inpatient unit for the treatment of suicidal adolescents and would produce significantly superior symptom change from the patient's baseline state compared to treatment as usual (TAU).
Abstract
The sample consisted of 62 inpatients (10 boys and 52 girls) 14- to 17-years-old. One-year follow-up data were available on 26 DBT patients (83 percent of those initially enrolled) and 27 TAU patients (90 percent of those initially enrolled). The DBT program lasted 2 weeks and consisted of 10 daily, manualized DBT skills training sessions. DBT patients were also seen twice weekly for individual DBT psychotherapy to review diary cards and conduct behavioral and solution analyses. The patients participated in a DBT milieu to facilitate skills generalization. TAU consisted of a daily psychodynamic psychotherapy group, individual psychodynamic psychotherapy at least once a week, and a psychodynamically oriented milieu. Pretreatment and posttreatment (1-year follow-up) were conducted for both groups to assess depressive symptoms, suicidal ideation, hopelessness, parasuicidal behavior, hospitalizations, emergency room visits, and adherence to follow-up recommendations. The study found that DBT significantly reduced behavioral incidents during treatment compared with TAU. Both groups had significant reductions in parasuicidal behavior, depressive symptoms, and suicidal ideation at 1-year follow-up. These promising results from this pilot study suggest that further evaluation of DBT for adolescent inpatients is warranted. 3 tables and 29 references