Citation

Decou CR, Comtois KA, Landes SJ. Behav. Ther. 2019; 50(1): 60-72.

Affiliation

University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, College of Medicine; Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System, South Central Mental Illness Research Education Clinical Center (MIRECC).

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies, Publisher Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.beth.2018.03.009

PMID

30661567

Abstract

Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) prioritizes suicidal behavior and other self-directed violence as the primary treatment targets, and has been demonstrated to reduce self-directed violence in clinical trials. This paper synthesizes findings from controlled trials that assessed self-directed violence and suicidality, including suicide attempts, non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI), suicidal ideation, and accessing psychiatric crisis services. Eighteen controlled trials of DBT were identified. Random effects meta-analyses demonstrated that DBT reduced self-directed violence (d = -.324, 95% CI = -.471 to -.176), and reduced frequency of psychiatric crisis services (d = -.379, 95% CI = -.581 to -.176). There was not a significant pooled effect of DBT with regard to suicidal ideation (d = -.229, 95% CI = -.473 to.016). Our findings may reflect the prioritization of behavior over thoughts within DBT, and offer implications for clinical practice and future research concerning the implementation of DBT for acute suicidality.

Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Language: en

Keywords

dialectical behavior therapy (DBT); meta-analysis; self-directed violence; suicide; suididal ideation