Comparison of the effectiveness of individual and family-centered schema therapy, with and without supportive therapy, in reducing the symptoms of patients with borderline personality disorder

The present study was conducted with the aim of investigating the effectiveness of individual and family-centered schema therapy with supportive treatment on the symptoms of patients with borderline personality disorder.

The current research is applied in terms of purpose and in terms of method it is semi-experimental with a pre-test and post-test type. The statistical population contained patients with a definite diagnosis of borderline personality disorder who visited Quds Hospital in Sanandaj city in 2020 and 2021. The sampling method was purposeful and finally 60 men were examined as a sample and randomly divided into the desired treatment groups.

The findings of the research indicated that there is a significant difference between the performance of the control and experimental groups in reducing the symptoms of borderline personality disorder in the post-test (P < 0.05). Also, the results of the multivariate covariance analysis indicated that the individual and family-centered schema therapy with supportive treatment improved the components of borderline personality disorder  in patients with this disorder. According to the eta coefficient, there was the greatest effect on emptiness with 41% and the least effect on explosive anger with 22%.

The results of the present study indicate that the schema therapies used in the research are effective in reducing the components of borderline personality disorder, so it can be used as an effective intervention method in patients with borderline personality disorder.