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Reduced social impairment and improved life satisfaction are important objectives in group treatment for patients with personality dysfunction. Knowledge regarding patient characteristics and group treatment processes that contribute to these outcomes, however, remains limited. Dispositional connectedness, the valuing of interpersonal connections, may be an important patient factor that influences patients' experience of group treatment in ways that facilitate therapeutic benefits. The present study investigated the roles of dispositional connectedness and group engagement in contributing to improvement in social functioning and life satisfaction through integrative group treatment for personality dysfunction. Seventy-nine patients who completed an integrative group treatment programme were assessed for dispositional connectedness at baseline and social functioning and life satisfaction at pretreatment and posttreatment; each also provided ratings of group engagement during treatment. Regression analyses using bootstrap confidence intervals found significant indirect effects for dispositional connectedness regarding improvement in both social functioning and life satisfaction, through the mediating effect of group engagement. Thus, patients who entered treatment with tendencies towards interpersonal connectedness perceived a higher level of engagement in the group environment. Group engagement in turn contributed to greater improvement in social functioning and to greater improvement in life satisfaction following treatment. The findings indicate dispositional connectedness as a salient characteristic in selecting patients for group treatment and highlight the role of an engaged interpersonal climate in facilitating improvement in social functioning and life satisfaction.

Objectives Limited empirical attention has been devoted to individualized treatment objectives in intensive group therapy for personality dysfunction. This study investigated patients' ratings of distress associated with individual therapy goals - referred to as target object severity - in an intensive Evening Treatment Programme for patients with personality dysfunction. Design Change in target objective severity was examined in a sample of 81 patients who completed treatment in an intensive, integrative group therapy programme. Methods Correlation and regression analyses were used to examine associations between change in target object severity and patients' pre-treatment diagnosis, symptom distress, and treatment outcome expectancy, and between change in target objective severity and patients' ratings of group therapy process (group climate, therapeutic alliance, group cohesion). The relationship between change in target objective severity and longer-range life satisfaction was also examined in a subsample of patients who rated life satisfaction at follow-up. Results While change in target objective severity was not significantly related to pre-treatment variables, significant associations were found with several aspects of group therapy process. Patients' experience of a highly engaged group climate was uniquely associated with improvement in target object severity. Such improvement was significantly related to longer-term life satisfaction after controlling for general symptom change. Conclusion The working atmosphere in group therapy contributes to patients' progress regarding individual treatment targets, and such progress is an important factor in later satisfaction. Attention to individualized treatment targets deserves further clinical and research attention in the context of integrative group therapy for personality dysfunction. Practitioner points This study found that patients attending an integrative group treatment programme for personality dysfunctio

Objective We aimed to investigate change in self-esteem through intensive group treatment for personality dysfunction, by exploring: (a) the relationship between patients' experience of therapeutic alliance and improvement in self-esteem during treatment, including patients' quality of object-relations (QOR) as a possible moderator; and (b) the association between improvement in self-esteem during treatment, and depressive symptoms 9 months later. Method Eighty patients with personality dysfunction, consecutively enrolled in a group-oriented treatment program, were assessed at pretreatment, posttreatment, and 9 months follow-up. Results Especially for patients with lower QOR, alliance predicted self-esteem change during treatment. In addition, change in self-esteem during treatment predicted follow-up depression severity, even when controlling for within-treatment symptom change. Conclusions Patients with impoverished inner relational representations may benefit more from a secure alliance in terms of improving their self-esteem. Change in self-esteem may also be important in preventing relapse of depressive symptoms in people with personality dysfunction.