DBT and Escitalopram in Borderline Personality Disorder

Condition(s) targeted: Borderline Personality Disorder

Intervention: Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (Behavioral); Escitalopram (Drug)

Phase: N/A

Status: Recruiting

Sponsored by: Bronx VA Medical Center

Official(s) and/or principal investigator(s):
Marianne Goodman, MD, Principal Investigator, Affiliation: Bronx VA Medical Center/Mount Sinai School of Medicine

Overall contact:
Emily Hart, Phone: 212-241-0441, Email: mpgroup@mssm.edu

Subjects will receive six months of DBT, consisting of one 90-minute group and one 60-minute individual session per week as well as telephone availability of the individual therapist. Half the subjects will concurrently receive escitalopram while half will receive placebo, in a randomized double-blind design.

Official title: Effects of Dialectical Behavioral Therapy and Escitalopram on Impulsive Aggression, Affective Instability and Cognitive Processing in Borderline Personality Disorder

Study design: Treatment, Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo Control, Parallel Assignment

Primary outcome: Measures of impulsivity, aggression, affective impulsivity, immediate and delayed memory, and cognitive processing at baseline, 6 months and 9 months

Minimum age: 18 Years. Maximum age: 60 Years. Gender(s): Both.

Criteria:

Inclusion Criteria: Is a male or female between 18 and 60 who meets criteria for Borderline Personality Disorder and has been off psychotropic medications for at least 2 weeks (6 weeks for fluoxetine).

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Exclusion Criteria: Meets criteria for Schizophrenia, Bipolar Disorder, Mental Retardation, current or recent Substance Dependence or a current Major Depressive Episode. Subjects also should not currently be in individual psychotherapy. (Case management and work therapy programs are allowed.)

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Emily Hart, Phone: 212-241-0441, Email: mpgroup@mssm.edu

Bronx VA Medical Center, Bronx, New York 10029, United States; Recruiting

Last updated: November 17, 2005