Studying Effects and Process in Psychotherapy for Personality Disorders

This presentation gives an overview of the methods used for research on the process and outcome of psychotherapy. Possibilities as well as difficulties will be discussed, such as the conflict between internal and external validity and standardized versus individualized procedures as some of the issues deserving particular attention for research on psychotherapy for personality disorder patients. It is argued that good psychotherapy research is also good psychotherapy research for personality disorders, with heterogeneity, ego-syntony, and ambivalent motivation needing special attention. Adaptations of and alternatives for randomized clinical trials will be discussed