Common factors, Responsiveness and Outcome in Psychotherapy (CROP): study protocol for a naturalistic prospective cohort study of psychotherapy in Denmark.

INTRODUCTION: The aim of the Common factors, Responsiveness and Outcome in Psychotherapy (CROP) study is to identify client and psychologist characteristics and therapeutic processes associated with the outcome of psychotherapy delivered by psychologists employed in the Danish primary sector or fully self-employed. The study addresses two main questions. First, how are specific characteristics of clients and psychologists related to the outcome of therapy and do these characteristics moderate the outcome of different psychotherapeutic approaches? Second, to what extent do therapists adapt their approach to client characteristics and preferences and how does such responsiveness impact the process and outcome of therapy? METHODS AND ANALYSIS: The study is a naturalistic prospective cohort study carried out in collaboration with psychologists in private practice in Denmark. Self-reported data are collected from the participating psychologists and their participating clients before, during (weekly and postsession) and after psychotherapy (at end of treatment and 3 months follow-up). The estimated target sample size is 573 clients. The data are analysed using multilevel modelling and structural equation modelling approaches to capture predictors and moderators of the effect and rate of change in psychotherapy as well as session-to-session changes during the therapy process. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: The study has been approved by the IRB at the Department of Psychology, University of Copenhagen (IRB number: IP-IRB/01082018) and the Danish Data Protection Agency. All study data are fully anonymised and all clients have given informed consent to participation in the study. The study findings will be presented in articles in international, peer-reviewed journals as well as to psychotherapy practitioners and other professionals across Denmark. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: NCT05630560.

Women With Borderline Personality Disorder Show Reduced Identification of Emotional Facial Expressions and a Heightened Negativity Bias.

Individuals with borderline personality disorder (BPD) frequently display impairments in the identification of emotional facial expressions paralleled by a negativity bias. However, it remains unclear whether misperception of facial expressions is a key psychopathological marker of BPD. To address this question, the authors examined 43 women diagnosed with BPD and 56 healthy female controls using an emotion face identification task and a face dot-probe task together with measures on psychopathology. Compared to controls, women with BPD showed impaired identification of disgusted and angry faces concurrent with a bias to misclassify faces as angry, and a faster preconscious vigilance for fearful relative to happy facial expressions. Increased severity of borderline symptoms and global psychopathology in BPD patients were associated with reduced ability to identify angry facial expressions and a stronger negativity bias to anger. The findings indicate that BPD patients who misperceive face emotions have the greatest mental health issues.

Psychodynamic profile and reflective functioning in patients with bulimia nervosa.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to examine the general psychological functioning of patients suffering from bulimia nervosa (BN) using the Karolinska Psychodynamic Profile (KAPP). Furthermore, KAPP data and data from the Reflective Functioning scale (RF), measuring the ability to mentalize, were combined in order to examine differences in alexithymia, impulse control and affect regulation in patients with high or low RF. METHOD: Seventy patients with BN were interviewed with both the KAPP and the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) from which RF is coded. Differences in KAPP scores of patients with high or low RF were analyzed. RESULTS: Most of the patients with BN were found to have a personality structure within the normal or neurotic range (n=50 of 70). BN patients with a high RF had significantly lower scores on KAPP's alexithymia scale than patients with a low RF score, demonstrating that poor mentalizing is related to alexithymia. Concurrently, patients with high RF showed problems with impulse control and coping with aggressive affects according to KAPP scores. CONCLUSION: Although BN patients with high RF showed good capacities for describing their mental states, they still had difficulties regulating the emotions and impulses related to these states. SIGNIFICANT OUTCOME: Among patients suffering from BN, patients with high RF were significantly less alexithymic than low RF patients. LIMITATIONS: The findings of this study are limited by the relatively small numbers of participants especially in the RF subgroups, posing a danger of not finding as significant existing differences in character pathology between high and low RF groups.

A randomized controlled trial of psychoanalytic psychotherapy or cognitive-behavioral therapy for bulimia nervosa.

OBJECTIVE: The authors compared psychoanalytic psychotherapy and cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) in the treatment of bulimia nervosa. METHOD: A randomized controlled trial was conducted in which 70 patients with bulimia nervosa received either 2 years of weekly psychoanalytic psychotherapy or 20 sessions of CBT over 5 months. The main outcome measure was the Eating Disorder Examination interview, which was administered blind to treatment condition at baseline, after 5 months, and after 2 years. The primary outcome analyses were conducted using logistic regression analysis. RESULTS: Both treatments resulted in improvement, but a marked difference was observed between CBT and psychoanalytic psychotherapy. After 5 months, 42% of patients in CBT (N=36) and 6% of patients in psychoanalytic psychotherapy (N=34) had stopped binge eating and purging (odds ratio=13.40, 95% confidence interval [CI]=2.45-73.42; p<0.01). At 2 years, 44% in the CBT group and 15% in the psychoanalytic psychotherapy group had stopped binge eating and purging (odds ratio=4.34, 95% CI=1.33-14.21; p=0.02). By the end of both treatments, substantial improvements in eating disorder features and general psychopathology were observed, but in general these changes took place more rapidly in CBT. CONCLUSIONS: Despite the marked disparity in the number of treatment sessions and the duration of treatment, CBT was more effective in relieving binging and purging than psychoanalytic psychotherapy and was generally faster in alleviating eating disorder features and general psychopathology. The findings indicate the need to develop and test a more structured and symptom-focused version of psychoanalytic psychotherapy for bulimia nervosa.

Unstable identity and prefrontal injury.

INTRODUCTION: In neuropsychological research, "organic personality disorder", lack of social insight, and executive dysfunctions have been identified in patients with prefrontal brain injury. The assessment of personality change has, in particular, been a methodological challenge in this field of research. The aim of the present pilot study was to examine personality aspects in patients with prefrontal brain injury from a neuropsychological as well as a psychodynamic point of view. METHODS: A total of 13 adults with personality change as a manifest sequel after sudden onset brain injury were assessed with neuropsychological tests of executive functions, with the European Brain Injury Questionnaire (EBIQ), and with the Karolinska Psychodynamic Profile (KAPP), which to our knowledge has not previously been used as part of a neuropsychological assessment. The personality profiles of the brain-injured patients were compared to the personality profile of a group of 65 brain-healthy individuals. RESULTS: The personality organisation of the prefrontally brain-injured patients was significantly disturbed and close to a borderline personality organisation, as defined by the KAPP. CONCLUSIONS: The results of the pilot study suggest that prefrontal brain systems may support the integration of self-functions and play a central role for inter-personal relations. Future research regarding the relation between brain dysfunction, executive and cognitive deficit, and personality disorder needs to be carried out in larger samples to substantiate the hypothesis of a relationship between prefrontal brain systems and self-functions.