Borderline Personality DisorderFASTER-DBTNCT02387736
DBT for Chronically Self-harming Individuals With BPD: Evaluating the Clinical & Cost Effectiveness of a 6 mo. Treatment
A study testing Dialectical Behaviour Therapy-6 months and Dialectical Behaviour Therapy-12 months in people with Borderline Personality Disorder, run by Centre for Addiction and Mental Health at 2 sites in Canada.
Trial summary
Standard one-year dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT), which has four components, is an effective treatment for people with borderline personality disorder. However, such DBT programs are in short supply and costly, resulting in long wait lists. In practice, DBT is often reduced in length or intensity. Read more about this study
- Who is it for?
- Ages 18 to 65 years
- Conditions the study is for
- Borderline Personality Disorder
- What is being tested?
- Dialectical Behaviour Therapy-6 months and Dialectical Behaviour Therapy-12 months
- Type of treatment
- Lifestyle or therapy programme
- Could I receive a placebo?
- No, everyone receives an active treatment
- How many people
- 240 participants
- Where
- 2 sitesCanada
- Study dates
- Feb 2015to Jul 2019
- Phase
- Interventional
- Are there results?
- None posted in the registry
Key requirements
Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.
- Ages 18 to 65 years
- All sexes
- No healthy volunteers
- Adult, Older adult
Who may be able to join
- Meets DSM-IV criteria for Borderline Personality Disorder.
- Has had at least 2 self-harm episodes (either suicidal or non-suicidal) in the past 5 years, including at least 1 in the past 8 weeks.
- Proficient in English
- Provides informed consent to participate in the study.
- Absence of 8 or more standard weeks of DBT in the past year (individual and group therapy components).
- has had either Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP) coverage or BC Medical Services Plan (MSP) health insurance for 1 year or more
Show all 9Show fewer
- Absence of a pending criminal court case or charges.
- Has been a resident of Ontario or British Columbia for all of the past 12 months, at least.
- Lives in the Greater Toronto Area/Greater Vancouver Area
Who cannot join
- Meets the DSM-IV criteria for bipolar disorder I, dementia, or a psychotic disorder other than psychotic disorder NOS
- IQ less than 70
- Chronic or serious physical health problem requiring hospitalization within the next year (e.g., cancer)
- Plans to move to a province other than Ontario or BC in the next 2 years.
Trial locations and contacts
2 sites in 1 country.
Canada2 sites
Simon Fraser University
Burnaby, British Columbia, V5A IS6
Center for Addiction and Mental Health
Toronto, Ontario, M5S 2S1
About this study
Official title: Dialectical Behaviour Therapy for Chronically Self-harming Individuals With BPD: Evaluating the Clinical and Cost Effectiveness of a 6-month Treatment
Standard one-year dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT), which has four components, is an effective treatment for people with borderline personality disorder. However, such DBT programs are in short supply and costly, resulting in long wait lists. In practice, DBT is often reduced in length or intensity. This study will determine whether shorter DBT treatment is clinically effective and cost-effective. In total, 240 self-harming BPD patients will be randomly assigned to receive either 1 year or 6 months of DBT, with follow-up lasting two years. Rates of suicidal and self-harm behaviours, use of health care and general psychological functioning will be examined.
Read the detailed description
Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a serious and debilitating psychiatric condition characterized by instability in relationships, emotions, identity, and behaviour. Affecting 2-6% of the general population, BPD is associated with high rates of self-harm (both suicide attempts and non-suicidal self-injury), mortality by suicide, and consequent heavy use of public health resources, making it one of the most expensive psychiatric disorders to treat. Psychotherapy is recognized as the first-line treatment for BPD, of which dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT) has demonstrated the strongest empirical support. Although DBT is efficacious for self-harming individuals with BPD, and increasingly available over the past 10 years, demand for DBT exceeds existing resources.
Within the current climate of rising health care costs and limited resources, the length (12 month) and intensive nature (entailing multiple treatment components) of standard DBT are major barriers to its adoption. Subsequently, most DBT programs have lengthy wait lists. Inadequate accessibility of treatment is not specific to Canada; it is a global problem. In clinical practice, DBT is often abbreviated, or clinicians deliver only the components that they believe are most appropriate, despite an evidence base almost entirely consisting of studies of 1 year of DBT. There are no data on the optimal length of treatment.
Therefore, the primary aim of this proposal is to examine the efficacy of an abbreviated course of DBT (including all components of treatment) compared to the evidence-supported 12 months of DBT. Our principal question is: How do the clinical outcomes of 6 months of DBT (DBT-6) compare with the standard 12 months (DBT-12) for the treatment of chronically self-harming individuals with BPD? Assessments will be conducted at pretreatment and at 3-month intervals until 24 months (i.e., 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 21, and 24 months).
Hypotheses: (1) Patients in the DBT-6 arm will show reductions in the frequency of self-harm across the treatment phase and one-year post treatment follow-up phase no worse than those measured with patients in the DBT-12 arm. (2) Patients who present with high rates of self-harm and impulsive behaviours will have reductions in the frequency of self-harm behaviours that are no worse than those in the DBT-6 arm and the DBT-12 arm, over the course of both the treatment phase and the 1-year post treatment follow-up.
- Conditions
- Borderline Personality Disorder
- Being tested
- Dialectical Behaviour Therapy-6 months, Dialectical Behaviour Therapy-12 months
- Keywords
- BPD, DBT, Dialectical Behaviour Therapy, Borderline Personality Disorder, Suicide, Non-suicidal self injury, NSSI, Randomized Control trials, treatment
- Medical subject headings
- Borderline Personality Disorder, Suicide, Self-Injurious Behavior
What participants receive
What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.
Dialectical Behaviour Therapy-6 monthsBehavioural
Also called DBT-6
Modification of behaviours achieved with reframing thoughts and impulses
Dialectical Behaviour Therapy-12 monthsBehavioural
Also called DBT-12
Modification of behaviours achieved with reframing thoughts and impulses
| Study group | Role | What they receive |
|---|---|---|
| Dialectical Behaviour Therapy-6 months | Experimental | 6 months of standard dialectical behaviour therapy treatment. Receives: Behavioral: Dialectical Behaviour Therapy-6 months |
| Dialectical Behaviour Therapy-12 months | Active comparator | 12 months of standard dialectical behaviour therapy treatment Receives: Behavioral: Dialectical Behaviour Therapy-12 months |
What is being measured
The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.
Change in frequency of self-harm (suicidal and non-suicidal) behaviours over time as measured by the Suicide Attempt Self-Injury Interview (SASII)
Records details regarding the frequency, topography, intent, medical severity, social context, precipitating and concurrent events, and outcomes of each self-harm (suicidal and non-suicidal) behavior during a three-month target time period.
Measured: Administered pre-treatment and every three months until 24 months
Secondary outcomes (8)
Changes in health care use as measured by the Treatment History Interview-2 (THI-2)
Records participants use of other treatment resources, e.g. number of Hospitalizations, Emergency Room Visits, Medications, Psychosocial Treatments
Measured: Administered pre-treatment and every three months until 24 months
Change in general functioning as measured by the Euroqol-5D
Assesses health related quality of life
Measured: At pre-treatment and every three months until 24 months
Change in BPD symptoms as measured by the Borderline Symptom List-23 (BSL-23)
Assesses presence of specific BPD symptoms
Measured: At pre-treatment and every three months over 24 months
Change in general psychopathology and symptoms, as measures by the Symptom Checklist 90 Revised (SCL-90R)
Assesses general symptom distress
Measured: At pre-treatment and every three months over 24 months
Change in anger as measured by the State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory-2 (STAXI-2)
Assesses a subject's experience and expression of anger
Measured: At pre-treatment and every three months over 24 months
Change in depression as measured by the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II)
Assesses symptoms of depression
Measured: At pre-treatment and every three months over 24 months
Changes to interpersonal functioning as measured by the Inventory of Interpersonal Problems-64 (IIP-64)
Assesses dysfunctional patterns in interpersonal interactions
Measured: At pre-treatment and every three months over 24 months
Changes in the use of DBT coping skills, as measured by the Dialectical Behaviour Therapy Ways of Coping Checklist (DBT-WCCL)
Assesses the use of DBT skills
Measured: At pre-treatment and every three months over 24 months
Timeline
From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.
- First posted13 Mar 2015 (estimated)
- Study startFeb 2015
- Primary completionJul 2019
- Study completionJul 2019
Resources
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govThe registry entry this page is built from, with its full change history.
- Publications (19)Papers the sponsor has linked to this study.
- Other trials for Borderline Personality DisorderStudies of the same condition, open and under way.
- What the trial phases meanHow a treatment moves from first tests in people to approval.
More details
For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.
Study design
- Study type
- Interventional
- Phase
- Phase N/A
- Primary purpose
- Treatment
- Allocation
- Randomised
- Intervention model
- Parallel groups
- Masking
- Single blind
- Who is masked
- Outcomes assessor
- Enrolment
- 240 participants (actual)
Sponsor and investigators
- Lead sponsor
- Centre for Addiction and Mental Health
- Sponsor type
- University, hospital or other
- Collaborators
- Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), Simon Fraser University
- Responsible party
- Principal investigator, Shelley McMain, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health
- Investigators
- Shelley McMain, Ph.D, Principal investigator, The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health
IDs, dates and publications
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT02387736
- Sponsor's protocol ID
- 026/2014
- Acronym
- FASTER-DBT
- Status last verified
- Mar 2026
- First submitted
- 20 Feb 2015
- Last updated
- 27 Mar 2026
- Results posted
- No
- Data monitoring committee
- Yes
- Individual data sharing
- No
Publications
American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 2013; 5 ed. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association Press.
Grant BF, Chou SP, Goldstein RB, Huang B, Stinson FS, Saha TD, Smith SM, Dawson DA, Pulay AJ, Pickering RP, Ruan WJ. Prevalence, correlates, disability, and comorbidity of DSM-IV borderline personality disorder: results from the Wave 2 National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions. J Clin Psychiatry. 2008 Apr;69(4):533-45. doi: 10.4088/jcp.v69n0404.
PubMed 18426259Soeteman DI, Hakkaart-van Roijen L, Verheul R, Busschbach JJ. The economic burden of personality disorders in mental health care. J Clin Psychiatry. 2008 Feb;69(2):259-65. doi: 10.4088/jcp.v69n0212.
PubMed 18363454Bateman AW. Treating borderline personality disorder in clinical practice. Am J Psychiatry. 2012 Jun;169(6):560-3. doi: 10.1176/appi.ajp.2012.12030341. No abstract available.
PubMed 22684591Skodol AE, Gunderson JG, Pfohl B, Widiger TA, Livesley WJ, Siever LJ. The borderline diagnosis I: psychopathology, comorbidity, and personality structure. Biol Psychiatry. 2002 Jun 15;51(12):936-50. doi: 10.1016/s0006-3223(02)01324-0.
PubMed 12062877Skodol AE, Siever LJ, Livesley WJ, Gunderson JG, Pfohl B, Widiger TA. The borderline diagnosis II: biology, genetics, and clinical course. Biol Psychiatry. 2002 Jun 15;51(12):951-63. doi: 10.1016/s0006-3223(02)01325-2.
PubMed 12062878Black DW, Blum N, Pfohl B, Hale N. Suicidal behavior in borderline personality disorder: prevalence, risk factors, prediction, and prevention. J Pers Disord. 2004 Jun;18(3):226-39. doi: 10.1521/pedi.18.3.226.35445.
PubMed 15237043Comtois, K. A., Elwood, L., Holdcraft, L. C., Smith, W. R., Simpson, T. L. Effectiveness of dialectical behaviour therapy in a community mental health centre. Cognitive And Behavioral Practice 2007; 14(4):406-14.
Bateman A, Fonagy P. Health service utilization costs for borderline personality disorder patients treated with psychoanalytically oriented partial hospitalization versus general psychiatric care. Am J Psychiatry. 2003 Jan;160(1):169-71. doi: 10.1176/appi.ajp.160.1.169.
PubMed 12505818Zanarini MC, Frankenburg FR, Hennen J, Silk KR. Mental health service utilization by borderline personality disorder patients and Axis II comparison subjects followed prospectively for 6 years. J Clin Psychiatry. 2004 Jan;65(1):28-36. doi: 10.4088/jcp.v65n0105.
PubMed 14744165McMain SF, Links PS, Gnam WH, Guimond T, Cardish RJ, Korman L, Streiner DL. A randomized trial of dialectical behavior therapy versus general psychiatric management for borderline personality disorder. Am J Psychiatry. 2009 Dec;166(12):1365-74. doi: 10.1176/appi.ajp.2009.09010039. Epub 2009 Sep 15.
PubMed 19755574Linehan MM, Comtois KA, Murray AM, Brown MZ, Gallop RJ, Heard HL, Korslund KE, Tutek DA, Reynolds SK, Lindenboim N. Two-year randomized controlled trial and follow-up of dialectical behavior therapy vs therapy by experts for suicidal behaviors and borderline personality disorder. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2006 Jul;63(7):757-66. doi: 10.1001/archpsyc.63.7.757.
PubMed 16818865McMain SF, Guimond T, Streiner DL, Cardish RJ, Links PS. Dialectical behavior therapy compared with general psychiatric management for borderline personality disorder: clinical outcomes and functioning over a 2-year follow-up. Am J Psychiatry. 2012 Jun;169(6):650-61. doi: 10.1176/appi.ajp.2012.11091416.
PubMed 22581157Linehan, M.M. Cognitive Behavioural Treatment of Borderline Personality Disorder. New York: Guilford Press; 1993.
Christensen KE, McMain S, Chapman A, Kuo JR. An examination of the role of PTSD and childhood trauma on treatment outcomes for individuals with borderline personality disorder in dialectical behavior therapy. Borderline Personal Disord Emot Dysregul. 2025 Nov 12;12(1):47. doi: 10.1186/s40479-025-00322-2.
PubMed 41225564
Study at a glance
From the registry record, last updated by the sponsor on 27 Mar 2026. Recruitment status is as the sponsor reported it: confirm with the study team.
- Official title
- Dialectical Behaviour Therapy for Chronically Self-harming Individuals With BPD: Evaluating the Clinical and Cost Effectiveness of a 6-month Treatment
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT02387736
- Acronym / sponsor ID
- FASTER-DBT / 026/2014
- Conditions
- Borderline Personality Disorder
- Keywords
- BPD, DBT, Dialectical Behaviour Therapy, Borderline Personality Disorder, Suicide, Non-suicidal self injury, NSSI, Randomized Control trials
- Study type
- Interventional
- Recruitment status
- Completed
- Enrolment
- 240 participants (actual)
- Lead sponsor
- Centre for Addiction and Mental HealthUniversity, hospital or other
- Collaborators
- Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), Simon Fraser University
- Study start
- Feb 2015 (actual)
- Primary completion
- Jul 2019 (actual)
- Study completion
- Jul 2019 (actual)
- First posted
- 13 Mar 2015 (estimated)
- Results
- Not posted in the source record
Clinical summary
The research question as the sponsor registered it. This describes what the study plans to test, not what it found.
Standard one-year dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT), which has four components, is an effective treatment for people with borderline personality disorder. However, such DBT programs are in short supply and costly, resulting in long wait lists. In practice, DBT is often reduced in length or intensity. This study will determine whether shorter DBT treatment is clinically effective and cost-effective. In total, 240 self-harming BPD patients will be randomly assigned to receive either 1 year or 6 months of DBT, with follow-up lasting two years. Rates of suicidal and self-harm behaviours, use of health care and general psychological functioning will be examined.
Detailed description
Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a serious and debilitating psychiatric condition characterized by instability in relationships, emotions, identity, and behaviour. Affecting 2-6% of the general population, BPD is associated with high rates of self-harm (both suicide attempts and non-suicidal self-injury), mortality by suicide, and consequent heavy use of public health resources, making it one of the most expensive psychiatric disorders to treat. Psychotherapy is recognized as the first-line treatment for BPD, of which dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT) has demonstrated the strongest empirical support. Although DBT is efficacious for self-harming individuals with BPD, and increasingly available over the past 10 years, demand for DBT exceeds existing resources.
Within the current climate of rising health care costs and limited resources, the length (12 month) and intensive nature (entailing multiple treatment components) of standard DBT are major barriers to its adoption. Subsequently, most DBT programs have lengthy wait lists. Inadequate accessibility of treatment is not specific to Canada; it is a global problem. In clinical practice, DBT is often abbreviated, or clinicians deliver only the components that they believe are most appropriate, despite an evidence base almost entirely consisting of studies of 1 year of DBT. There are no data on the optimal length of treatment.
Therefore, the primary aim of this proposal is to examine the efficacy of an abbreviated course of DBT (including all components of treatment) compared to the evidence-supported 12 months of DBT. Our principal question is: How do the clinical outcomes of 6 months of DBT (DBT-6) compare with the standard 12 months (DBT-12) for the treatment of chronically self-harming individuals with BPD? Assessments will be conducted at pretreatment and at 3-month intervals until 24 months (i.e., 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 21, and 24 months).
Hypotheses: (1) Patients in the DBT-6 arm will show reductions in the frequency of self-harm across the treatment phase and one-year post treatment follow-up phase no worse than those measured with patients in the DBT-12 arm. (2) Patients who present with high rates of self-harm and impulsive behaviours will have reductions in the frequency of self-harm behaviours that are no worse than those in the DBT-6 arm and the DBT-12 arm, over the course of both the treatment phase and the 1-year post treatment follow-up.
Study design
- Primary purpose
- Treatment
- Allocation
- Randomised
- Intervention model
- Parallel groups
- Masking
- Single blind (outcomes assessor)
- Number of arms
- 2
| Arm | Type | Receives |
|---|---|---|
| Dialectical Behaviour Therapy-6 months | Experimental | Behavioral: Dialectical Behaviour Therapy-6 months6 months of standard dialectical behaviour therapy treatment. |
| Dialectical Behaviour Therapy-12 months | Active comparator | Behavioral: Dialectical Behaviour Therapy-12 months12 months of standard dialectical behaviour therapy treatment |
Who may qualify
- Ages
- 18 to 65 years
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Not accepted
- Age groups
- Adult, Older adult
Key inclusion criteria (9 listed)
- Meets DSM-IV criteria for Borderline Personality Disorder.
- Has had at least 2 self-harm episodes (either suicidal or non-suicidal) in the past 5 years, including at least 1 in the past 8 weeks.
- Proficient in English
- Provides informed consent to participate in the study.
- Absence of 8 or more standard weeks of DBT in the past year (individual and group therapy components).
Key exclusion criteria (4 listed)
- Meets the DSM-IV criteria for bipolar disorder I, dementia, or a psychotic disorder other than psychotic disorder NOS
- IQ less than 70
- Chronic or serious physical health problem requiring hospitalization within the next year (e.g., cancer)
- Plans to move to a province other than Ontario or BC in the next 2 years.
Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening; this overview does not establish that a patient qualifies. Full inclusion and exclusion criteria.
Interventions
| Intervention | Type | Arms |
|---|---|---|
| Dialectical Behaviour Therapy-6 monthsAlso: DBT-6Modification of behaviours achieved with reframing thoughts and impulses | Behavioural | Dialectical Behaviour Therapy-6 months |
| Dialectical Behaviour Therapy-12 monthsAlso: DBT-12Modification of behaviours achieved with reframing thoughts and impulses | Behavioural | Dialectical Behaviour Therapy-12 months |
Primary outcome
Change in frequency of self-harm (suicidal and non-suicidal) behaviours over time as measured by the Suicide Attempt Self-Injury Interview (SASII)
Time frame: Administered pre-treatment and every three months until 24 months
Records details regarding the frequency, topography, intent, medical severity, social context, precipitating and concurrent events, and outcomes of each self-harm (suicidal and non-suicidal) behavior during a three-month target time period.
8 secondary outcomes
Changes in health care use as measured by the Treatment History Interview-2 (THI-2)
Time frame: Administered pre-treatment and every three months until 24 months
Change in general functioning as measured by the Euroqol-5D
Time frame: At pre-treatment and every three months until 24 months
Change in BPD symptoms as measured by the Borderline Symptom List-23 (BSL-23)
Time frame: At pre-treatment and every three months over 24 months
Change in general psychopathology and symptoms, as measures by the Symptom Checklist 90 Revised (SCL-90R)
Time frame: At pre-treatment and every three months over 24 months
Change in anger as measured by the State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory-2 (STAXI-2)
Time frame: At pre-treatment and every three months over 24 months
Change in depression as measured by the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II)
Time frame: At pre-treatment and every three months over 24 months
Changes to interpersonal functioning as measured by the Inventory of Interpersonal Problems-64 (IIP-64)
Time frame: At pre-treatment and every three months over 24 months
Changes in the use of DBT coping skills, as measured by the Dialectical Behaviour Therapy Ways of Coping Checklist (DBT-WCCL)
Time frame: At pre-treatment and every three months over 24 months
Results and safety
The study is completed, but results are not available in the source record. That does not mean the treatment did or did not work.
Research links
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govLast updated by the sponsor 27 Mar 2026.
- BackgroundAmerican Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 2013; 5 ed. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association Press.
- Background: PubMed 18426259Grant BF, Chou SP, Goldstein RB, Huang B, Stinson FS, Saha TD, Smith SM, Dawson DA, Pulay AJ, Pickering RP, Ruan WJ. Prevalence, correlates, disability, and comorbidity of DSM-IV borderline personality disorder: results from the Wave 2 National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions. J Clin Psychiatry. 2008 Apr;69(4):533-45. doi: 10.4088/jcp.v69n0404.
- Background: PubMed 18363454Soeteman DI, Hakkaart-van Roijen L, Verheul R, Busschbach JJ. The economic burden of personality disorders in mental health care. J Clin Psychiatry. 2008 Feb;69(2):259-65. doi: 10.4088/jcp.v69n0212.
- Background: PubMed 22684591Bateman AW. Treating borderline personality disorder in clinical practice. Am J Psychiatry. 2012 Jun;169(6):560-3. doi: 10.1176/appi.ajp.2012.12030341. No abstract available.
- Background: PubMed 12062877Skodol AE, Gunderson JG, Pfohl B, Widiger TA, Livesley WJ, Siever LJ. The borderline diagnosis I: psychopathology, comorbidity, and personality structure. Biol Psychiatry. 2002 Jun 15;51(12):936-50. doi: 10.1016/s0006-3223(02)01324-0.
- Background: PubMed 12062878Skodol AE, Siever LJ, Livesley WJ, Gunderson JG, Pfohl B, Widiger TA. The borderline diagnosis II: biology, genetics, and clinical course. Biol Psychiatry. 2002 Jun 15;51(12):951-63. doi: 10.1016/s0006-3223(02)01325-2.
- Background: PubMed 15237043Black DW, Blum N, Pfohl B, Hale N. Suicidal behavior in borderline personality disorder: prevalence, risk factors, prediction, and prevention. J Pers Disord. 2004 Jun;18(3):226-39. doi: 10.1521/pedi.18.3.226.35445.
- BackgroundComtois, K. A., Elwood, L., Holdcraft, L. C., Smith, W. R., Simpson, T. L. Effectiveness of dialectical behaviour therapy in a community mental health centre. Cognitive And Behavioral Practice 2007; 14(4):406-14.
- Background: PubMed 12505818Bateman A, Fonagy P. Health service utilization costs for borderline personality disorder patients treated with psychoanalytically oriented partial hospitalization versus general psychiatric care. Am J Psychiatry. 2003 Jan;160(1):169-71. doi: 10.1176/appi.ajp.160.1.169.
- Background: PubMed 14744165Zanarini MC, Frankenburg FR, Hennen J, Silk KR. Mental health service utilization by borderline personality disorder patients and Axis II comparison subjects followed prospectively for 6 years. J Clin Psychiatry. 2004 Jan;65(1):28-36. doi: 10.4088/jcp.v65n0105.
- Background: PubMed 19755574McMain SF, Links PS, Gnam WH, Guimond T, Cardish RJ, Korman L, Streiner DL. A randomized trial of dialectical behavior therapy versus general psychiatric management for borderline personality disorder. Am J Psychiatry. 2009 Dec;166(12):1365-74. doi: 10.1176/appi.ajp.2009.09010039. Epub 2009 Sep 15.
- Background: PubMed 16818865Linehan MM, Comtois KA, Murray AM, Brown MZ, Gallop RJ, Heard HL, Korslund KE, Tutek DA, Reynolds SK, Lindenboim N. Two-year randomized controlled trial and follow-up of dialectical behavior therapy vs therapy by experts for suicidal behaviors and borderline personality disorder. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2006 Jul;63(7):757-66. doi: 10.1001/archpsyc.63.7.757.
- The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) is the leading mental health and addictions research facility in Canada, and one of the largest in the world.Link provided by the sponsor.
- Individual participant dataSharing planned: No
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Referral and contact
AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals. Contact the study team or a site listed below; they decide who can take part. This study is not recruiting at the moment.
Shelley McMain, Ph.D principal investigator
The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health
2 sites in 1 country: see every site and its status.
Questions about this trial
What is this clinical trial studying?
A study testing Dialectical Behaviour Therapy-6 months and Dialectical Behaviour Therapy-12 months in people with Borderline Personality Disorder, run by Centre for Addiction and Mental Health at 2 sites in Canada.
The full registered description is in the About this study section and the official record.
Who may be eligible to take part?
The sponsor lists 9 inclusion and 4 exclusion criteria. Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening, so read the full criteria and contact a listed site.
Is this clinical trial currently recruiting?
The record says: finished, as of the sponsor's last update on 27 Mar 2026. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.
Where is the study taking place?
The record lists 2 sites in Canada. Whether a site is taking part right now should be confirmed with that site. See every site.
What are the possible benefits and risks?
They depend on the study and the treatment, and no study can promise a benefit. The study team explains the known risks during informed consent, before anyone joins; the record itself does not list them.
Are results available for this study?
The study is completed, but results are not available in the source record. That does not mean the treatment did or did not work.
How can a doctor refer a patient or contact the research team?
The record lists no contact. The official record names the sponsor, who can be asked directly. AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals.
What does the primary outcome measure?
Change in frequency of self-harm (suicidal and non-suicidal) behaviours over time as measured by the Suicide Attempt Self-Injury Interview (SASII) (time frame: Administered pre-treatment and every three months until 24 months). It is what the study was designed to measure, not a finding.
Where can I read the original study information?
On the ClinicalTrials.gov record for NCT02387736, which also lists 19 linked publications.
Does a listing mean the treatment is approved or proven to work?
No. A listing means the study is registered. It does not show that the treatment is safe, works, or is approved by a regulator.
How often is this information updated?
AzTrials copies changed records from ClinicalTrials.gov every night and reloads the whole registry every week. The sponsor last updated this record on 27 Mar 2026.