Project description:Conduct disorder (CD) is a common psychiatric disorder in youth characterized by persisting norm-violating or aggressive behavior. Considering high individual and societal burden, feasible and effective psychotherapeutic treatment is desirable. Yet, treatments and research in this patient group are scarce. This study investigates the feasibility of mentalization-based treatment for adolescents with CD (MBT-CD) in terms of acceptability of MBT-CD and scientific assessments by participants as well as necessary organizational resources to conduct a consecutive randomized controlled trial (RCT). Recruitment, adherence and treatment session numbers were descriptively analyzed. Treatment evaluation interviews were qualitatively analyzed. A subset of sessions of therapists without prior MBT experience was rated for MBT adherence. Quantitative data were used to plan a consecutive RCT. Pre to post treatment changes in diagnosis and self-reported aggression, mentalizing and personality functioning were preliminarily analyzed. N = 45 adolescents with CD were recruited. 43% dropped out. Acceptance of scientific assessments was somewhat lower than therapy adherence (questionnaires filled out by ~ 80% of adolescents in treatment), and low at follow-up (25% of treatment completers). Mean session number was 30.3. Most treatment completers were satisfied with MBT-CD. Referrals mainly came from child and youth services and psychiatry. Nine of 16 sessions rated for MBT adherence were adherent. A priori sample size estimation for a prospective RCT with a drop-out rate of 43% yielded a sample of N = 158 to detect an effect f = .15 with 80% power in a repeated measures ANOVA. Pre-post analyses revealed diagnostic improvement in 68%. Of self-reported data, empathy pathology improved. Findings provide a sound basis for a consecutive feasibility and pilot RCT. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Clinicaltrials.gov, registration number NCT02988453, November 30, 2016, https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02988453.
Project description:ObjectiveMentalization is discussed as a mechanism of change in psychotherapy due to its positive effects on psychological functioning. In order to specifically apply mentalization-based interventions, a better understanding of the relationship between interventions and in-session mentalization is needed. The study aimed to explore the association between interventions and effective mentalizing.MethodFifteen therapy sessions of three therapies with male adolescents with conduct disorder were transcribed and rated with the Reflective Functioning (RF) Scale and a newly developed Mentalization-based Treatment (MBT) intervention coding manual. The coded interventions were categorized into intervention levels according to the MBT manual. Fisher's exact tests were performed to test differences in frequencies of interventions in high-RF sequences (RF score ≥ 4) compared with remaining therapy sequences (RF score ≤ 3).ResultsSpecific MBT interventions such as demand questions, affectelaboration, empathic validation, change of subject, challenge, patienttherapist relation and mentalizing for the patient were related to effective mentalizing. Moreover, intervention levels such as supportive & empathic, basic- mentalizing & affect mode and relational mentalizing were positively associated with effective mentalizing.ConclusionMBT interventions seem to promote effective mentalizing at various intervention levels. Interventions that enhance effective mentalizing seem to be patient specific. In line with MBT theory, their effect on effective mentalizing might depend on various variables, such as the patients' arousal and pre-mentalizing mode.
Project description:IntroductionBorderline personality disorder (BPD) is a severe and prevalent psychiatric disorder. Mentalization-based therapy (MBT) is an evidence-based intervention for BPD, and several countries offer treatment programs for BPD lasting for years, which is resource demanding. No previous trial has compared short-term with long-term MBT.ObjectiveThe aim of the study was to assess the efficacy and safety of short-term versus long-term MBT for outpatients with BPD.MethodsAdult outpatients (≥18 years) with subthreshold or diagnosed BPD were randomly assigned (1:1) to short-term MBT (5 months) or long-term MBT (14 months). The primary outcome was BPD symptoms assessed with the Zanarini Rating Scale for Borderline Personality Disorder. Secondary outcomes were functional impairment, quality of life, global functioning, and severe self-harm. All outcomes were primarily assessed at 16 months after randomization. This trial was prospectively registered at <ext-link ext-link-type="uri" xlink:href="http://ClinicalTrials.gov" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">ClinicalTrials.gov</ext-link>, NCT03677037.ResultsBetween October 4, 2018, and December 3, 2020, we randomly assigned 166 participants to short-term MBT (n = 84) or long-term MBT (n = 82). Regression analyses showed no evidence of a difference when assessing BPD symptoms (MD 0.99; 95% CI: -1.06 to 3.03; p = 0.341), level of functioning (MD 1.44; 95% CI: -1.43 to 4.32; p = 0.321), quality of life (MD -0.91; 95% CI: -4.62 to 2.79; p = 0.626), global functioning (MD -2.25; 95% CI: -6.70 to 2.20; p = 0.318), or severe self-harm (RR 1.37; 95% CI: 0.70-2.84; p = 0.335). More participants in the long-term MBT group had a serious adverse event compared with short-term MBT (RR 1.63; 95% CI: 0.94-3.07; p = 0.088), primarily driven by a difference in psychiatric hospitalizations (RR 2.03; 95% CI: 0.99-5.09; p = 0.056).ConclusionLong-term MBT did not lead to lower levels of BPD symptoms, nor did it influence any of the secondary outcomes compared with short-term MBT.
Project description:BackgroundEvidence-based outpatient psychotherapeutic programs are first-line treatment of borderline personality disorder (BPD). Early and effective treatment of BPD is crucial to the prevention of its individual, psychosocial, and economic consequences. However, in spite of recent advantages in diagnosing adolescent BPD, there is a lack of cost-effective evidence-based treatment programs for adolescents. Mentalization-based treatment is an evidence-based program for BPD, originally developed for adults.Methods/designAims/hypothesesWe will investigate whether a specifically designed mentalization-based treatment in groups is an efficacious treatment for adolescents with BPD or subthreshold BPD compared to treatment as usual. The trial is a four-center, two-armed, parallel-group, assessor-blinded randomized clinical superiority trial. One hundred twelve patients aged 14 to 17 referred to Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics in Region Zealand are randomized to 1 year of either mentalization-based treatment in groups or treatment as usual. Patients will be included if they meet at least four DSM-5 criteria for BPD. The primary outcome is self-reported borderline features at discharge. Secondary outcomes will include self-harm, depression, BPD criteria, externalizing and internalizing symptoms, and social functioning, together with parental reports on borderline features, externalizing and internalizing symptoms. Measures of attachment and mentalization will be included as mediational variables. Follow-up assessment will take place at 3 and 12 months after end of treatment.DiscussionThis is the first randomized controlled trial to test the efficacy of a group-based mentalization-based treatment for adolescents with BPD or subthreshold BPD. If the results confirm our hypothesis, this trial will add to the treatment options of cost-effective treatment of adolescent BPD.Trial registrationClinicaltrials.gov NCT02068326 , February 19, 2014.
Project description:Research on empathy in youth with Conduct Disorder (CD) has primarily focused on males, with the few studies that have investigated empathy in females relying on questionnaire measures. Our primary aim was to investigate whether females with CD show empathy deficits when using a more ecologically-valid task. We used an empathic accuracy (EA) paradigm that involved watching videos of actors recalling emotional experiences and providing continuous ratings of emotional intensity (assessing EA), naming the emotion expressed (emotion recognition), and reporting whether they shared the emotion expressed (affective empathy). We compared 23 females with CD and 29 typically-developing (TD) adolescents aged 13-18 years. The CD sample was divided into subgroups with higher (CD/CU+) versus lower (CD/CU-) levels of callous-unemotional traits. Females with CD did not differ from TD females in EA or emotion recognition but exhibited reduced affective empathy responses (ps < 0.01, rs ≥ 0.39). The CD/CU+ and CD/CU- subgroups did not differ on any empathy measure. We also assessed for sex differences in CD-empathy associations by comparing the present data with archive data from males. CD adolescents exhibited impairments in EA relative to their TD counterparts overall (p < 0.05, ηp2 = 0.06), but there was no sex-by-diagnosis interaction. While females with CD were only impaired in affective empathy, males with CD exhibited emotion recognition and affective empathy deficits. This study demonstrates that females with CD show relatively specific impairments in affective empathy on an ecologically-valid task, whereas males with CD display more global empathic difficulties.
Project description:Exposure to community violence through witnessing or being directly victimized has been associated with conduct problems in a range of studies. However, the relationship between community violence exposure (CVE) and conduct problems has never been studied separately in healthy individuals and individuals with conduct disorder (CD). Therefore, it is not clear whether the association between CVE and conduct problems is due to confounding factors, because those with high conduct problems also tend to live in more violent neighborhoods, i.e., an ecological fallacy. Hence, the aim of the present study was: (1) to investigate whether the association between recent CVE and current conduct problems holds true for healthy controls as well as adolescents with a diagnosis of CD; (2) to examine whether the association is stable in both groups when including effects of aggression subtypes (proactive/reactive aggression), age, gender, site and socioeconomic status (SES); and (3) to test whether proactive or reactive aggression mediate the link between CVE and conduct problems. Data from 1178 children and adolescents (62% female; 44% CD) aged between 9 years and 18 years from seven European countries were analyzed. Conduct problems were assessed using the Kiddie-Schedule of Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia diagnostic interview. Information about CVE and aggression subtypes was obtained using self-report questionnaires (Social and Health Assessment and Reactive-Proactive aggression Questionnaire (RPQ), respectively). The association between witnessing community violence and conduct problems was significant in both groups (adolescents with CD and healthy controls). The association was also stable after examining the mediating effects of aggression subtypes while including moderating effects of age, gender and SES and controlling for effects of site in both groups. There were no clear differences between the groups in the strength of the association between witnessing violence and conduct problems. However, we found evidence for a ceiling effect, i.e., individuals with very high levels of conduct problems could not show a further increase if exposed to CVE and vice versa. Results indicate that there was no evidence for an ecological fallacy being the primary cause of the association, i.e., CVE must be considered a valid risk factor in the etiology of CD.
Project description:BackgroundMentalization Based Therapy (MBT) has yielded promising outcomes for reducing self-harm, although to date only one study has reported MBT's effectiveness for adolescents (Rossouw and Fonagy, J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 51:1304-1313, 2012) wherein the treatment protocol consisted of an intensive programme of individual and family therapy. We sought to investigate an adaptation of the adult MBT introductory manual in a group format for adolescents.MethodsThe present study is a randomised controlled single blind feasibility trial that aims to (1) adapt the original explicit MBT introductory group manual for an adolescent population (MBT-Ai) and to (2) assess the feasibility of a trial of MBT-Ai through examination of consent rates, attendance, attrition and self-harm. Repeated measures ANOVAs were conducted to examine change over time in independent and dependent variables between groups, and multi level models (MLM) were conducted to examine key predictors in relation to change over time with self-report self-harm and emergency department presentation for harm as the primary outcome variables.ResultsFifty-three young people consented to participate and were randomised to MBT-Ai + TAU or TAU alone. Five participants withdrew from the trial. Trial procedures seemed appropriate and safe, with acceptable group attendance. Self-reported self-harm and emergency department presentation for self-harm significantly decreased over time in both groups, though there were no between group differences. Social anxiety, emotion regulation, and borderline traits also significantly decreased over time in both groups. Mentalization emerged as a significant predictor of change over time in self reported self harm and hospital presentation for self-harm.ConclusionsIt was feasible to carry out an RCT of MBT-Ai for adolescents already attending NHS CAMHS who have recently self-harmed. Our data gave signals that suggested a relatively brief group-based MBT-Ai intervention may be a promising intervention with potential for service implementation. Future research should consider the appropriate format, dosage and intensity of MBT for the adolescent population.Trial registrationNCT02771691 ; Trial Registration Date: 25/04/2016.
Project description:Alack of inhibition control has been found in subjects with conduct disorder (CD), but the underlying neuropathophysiology remains poorly understood. The current study investigated the different mechanism of inhibition control in adolescent-onset CD males (n = 29) and well-matched healthy controls (HCs) (n = 40) when performing a GoStop task by functional magnetic resonance images. Effective connectivity (EC) within the inhibition control network was analyzed using a stochastic dynamic causality model. We found that EC within the inhibition control network was significantly different in the CD group when compared to the HCs. Exploratory relationship analysis revealed significant negative associations between EC between the IFG and striatum and behavioral scale scores in the CD group. These results suggest for the first time that the failure of inhibition control in subjects with CD might be associated with aberrant connectivity of the frontal-basal ganglia pathways, especially between the IFG and striatum.
Project description:Background: It has been suggested that adolescents with conduct disorder (CD) may have a deficit in the affective and cognitive domains empathy, but studies exploring networks within the key brain regions of affective and cognitive empathy in adolescents with CD are lacking. Methods: Functional connectivity (FC) analyses among key brain regions of the affective and cognitive empathy with resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) were conducted in 30 adolescent boys with CD and 33 demographically matched healthy controls (HCs). Results: Atypical FC within the key brain regions of affective empathy was not observed in CD adolescents. However, we found that CD adolescents showed decreased frontotemporal connectivity within the key brain regions of cognitive empathy in relation to HCs, that is, the FCs between right temporoparietal junction and ventromedial prefrontal cortex as well as dorsomedial prefrontal cortex. Conclusion: These findings may provide insight into neural mechanism underlying a cognitive empathy deficiency of CD adolescents from the perspective of FC.
Project description:BackgroundImpaired mentalizing ability - an impaired ability to understand one's own and other people's behavior in terms of mental states - is associated with social dysfunction in non-affective psychotic disorder (NAPD). We tested whether adding mentalization-based treatment for psychotic disorder (MBTp) to treatment as usual (TAU) results in greater improvement in social functioning.MethodsMulticenter, rater-blinded, randomized controlled trial. Eighty-four patients with NAPD were assigned to TAU or MBTp plus TAU. Patients in the MBTp group received 18 months of MBTp, consisting of weekly group sessions and one individual session per 2 weeks. Social functioning was measured using the Social Functioning Scale. We conducted ANCOVAs to examine the difference between treatment conditions directly after treatment and at 6-month follow-up and performed moderation and mediation analyses.ResultsIntention-to-treat analyses showed no significant differences between groups post-treatment (p = 0.31) but revealed the MBTp group to be superior to TAU at follow-up (p = 0.03). Patients in the MBTp group also seemed to perform better on measures of mentalizing ability, although evidence of a mediation effect was limited (p = 0.06). Lastly, MBTp treatment was less effective in chronic patients than in recent-onset patients (p = 0.049) and overall symptoms at baseline were mild, which may have reduced the overall effectiveness of the intervention.ConclusionThe results suggest that MBTp plus TAU may lead to more robust improvements in social functioning compared to TAU, especially for patients with a recent onset of psychosis.