abuse research. Dialectical Behavior Therapy for Treatment of Borderline Personality Disorder: Implications for the Treatment of Substance Abuse

The purpose of this chapter is to describe a behavioral treatment approach designed specifically for chronically parasuicidal individuals meeting criteria for borderline personality disorder (BPD). Both the overlap between substance abuse and BPD as well as common correlates between the two disorders suggest that Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), in whole or in part, might be effective as a treatment for substance abuse in general and for substance abusers who also meet criteria for BPD in particular. The chapter will first give a brief overview of the overlap between substance abuse and BPD. Second, it will describe the central elements of a broad-band, behaviorally based treatment (DBT) for BPD. Finally, it will briefly describe the empirical evaluations of the effectiveness of this treatment regime. BORDERLINE PERSONALITY DISORDER AND SUBSTANCE ABUSE Overlap Impulsiveness in areas that are potentially self-damaging is part of the criteria for BPD. Substance abuse counts as half of this criterion in both DSM-III-R (American Psychiatric Association 1987) and DSM-I