Psychotherapy for personality disorders: 18 months' follow-up of the Ullevål Personality Project.

The Ullevål Personality Project is a randomized controlled trial (N = 114) initiated as a response to the limited evidence justifying provision of day hospital treatment for patients with personality disorders (PDs). A step-down model (CP) consisting of initial short-term day hospital treatment followed by conjoint group and individual outpatient treatment was compared with outpatient individual psychotherapy (OIP). The patients were evaluated at baseline, 8 months, and 18 months on a wide range of clinical measures assessing symptoms, interpersonal problems, psychosocial functioning, and personality pathology. This study indicates that eclectic psychotherapy provided by private practitioners has at least as good an effect upon personality-disordered patients as a more comprehensive day hospital and outpatient follow-up treatment. However, this study has to be supplemented with a cost-benefit analysis before any consideration of implications for health care planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]