Use of multisensory information as facilitator of group schema therapy for borderline personality disorder

Group schema therapy (GST) has been found to be an effective form of treatment for borderline personality disorder (BPD) patients. Yet high drop-out rates and heterogenous treatment responses remain challenges in the real-life clinical care of BPD.

We suggest a novel method for facilitating BPD group therapy using recordings (videos) made by patients at home according to the therapists' instructions and watched together in the group session. Patient examines his/her observations on the video in the group under the guidance of psychotherapist. These video recordings are used as multisensory information about the patient's speech, gestures, postures, and facial expressions. His/her interpretations about him/herself in the video are then shared and commented on in the group. Subsequently, a new and more adaptive explanation for the patient's experience is processed together.

We describe this process in practice with a clinical vignette and postulate that multisensory information facilitates the restructuring of dysfunctional emotion-cognition links in patients with BPD. The method can be utilized as an integrated component in a group schema psychotherapy framework.

Not applicable.