Self-control regulation interpersonal psychotherapy: A SCRIPT for beginning therapists in the treatment of borderline personality disorder

The efficacy of Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT; Linehan, 1993a) in the treatment of borderline personality disorder has been well established. A modification of the standard DBT protocol is presented, tailored to meet the unique constraints of an outpatient community mental health clinic training clinic. The program involved participation in two treatment modalities: weekly individual therapy (50 minutes) with a trainee therapist utilizing Self-Control Regulation Interpersonal Psychotherapy (SCRIPT; Cukrowicz & Joiner, 2005) and a weekly DBT skills training group (2 hours per week). Rationale for the modifications includes the hypothesized ease of trainability for the techniques of SCRIPT compared to individual DBT. In the current treatment program, the cornerstone of SCRIPT, situational analysis, is implemented (instead of chain and solution analyses used in the standard DBT protocol) as a means of skill acquisition and generalization. Patients completed treatment components for 1.5 years. Results indicate a 24-point global assessment of functioning increase for Patient 1, a 15-point increase for Patient 2, and a 30-point increase for Patient 3. These data support the feasibility and potential effectiveness of this DBT modification for graduate student training clinics.