Living through distress: a skills training group for reducing deliberate self-harm.
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Authors
Booth, Richard
Keogh, Karen
Doyle, Jillian
Owens, Tara
Issue Date
2012-12-07
Type
Journal Article
Language
en
Keywords
Alternative Title
Abstract
Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) is an evidence-based treatment effective in reducing deliberate self-harm. However, DBT is resource and time intensive, and few services are able to sustain a programme faithful to all aspects. Thus, modified or adapted versions of DBT have been developed, particularly for delivery in inpatient hospital settings.
This study presents a description of the "Living Through Distress" (LTD) Group, which is based on the group skills training component of DBT.
Participants (n = 114) were patients of a psychiatric hospital who attended the LTD group. The main inclusion criterion for the LTD group was a history of deliberate self-harm. The outcome measures were frequency of incidents of deliberate self-harm, levels of distress tolerance, and mean numbers of bed days per year.
Upon completion of the group, there were significant reductions in participants' reports of deliberate self-harm and significant increases in their distress tolerance levels, which were maintained at 3-month follow-up. There was also a reduction in participants' mean number of inpatient days at 1-year and 2-year follow-up. Over 50% of participants had no admissions in the year subsequent to completing the group.
As this study was not a randomized controlled trial, results must be interpreted with caution. However, the findings presented here are promising, and suggest that a briefer, less resource intense version of the group skills training component of DBT may be effective in reducing deliberate self-harm.
This study presents a description of the "Living Through Distress" (LTD) Group, which is based on the group skills training component of DBT.
Participants (n = 114) were patients of a psychiatric hospital who attended the LTD group. The main inclusion criterion for the LTD group was a history of deliberate self-harm. The outcome measures were frequency of incidents of deliberate self-harm, levels of distress tolerance, and mean numbers of bed days per year.
Upon completion of the group, there were significant reductions in participants' reports of deliberate self-harm and significant increases in their distress tolerance levels, which were maintained at 3-month follow-up. There was also a reduction in participants' mean number of inpatient days at 1-year and 2-year follow-up. Over 50% of participants had no admissions in the year subsequent to completing the group.
As this study was not a randomized controlled trial, results must be interpreted with caution. However, the findings presented here are promising, and suggest that a briefer, less resource intense version of the group skills training component of DBT may be effective in reducing deliberate self-harm.
Description
Citation
Booth, R., Keogh, K., Doyle, J., & Owens, T. (2014). Living through distress: a skills training group for reducing deliberate self-harm. Behavioural and cognitive psychotherapy, 42(2), 156–165. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1352465812001002
Publisher
License
Journal
Behavioural and cognitive psychotherapy
Volume
42
Issue
2
PubMed ID
ISSN
1469-1833