User:Mnortonb/sandbox

Preliminary research
In early 'research' studying the efficacy of a year-long TFP, suicide attempts were significantly reduced during treatment. Additionally, the physical condition of the patients was significantly improved. When the researchers compared the treatment year to the year prior, it was found that there was a significant reduction in psychiatric hospitalizations and days spent as inpatients in psychiatric hospitals. The dropout rate for the 1-year study was 19.1%, which the authors state as comparable to dropout rates in previous studies assessing the treatment of borderline individuals, including DBT research.

TFP vs. Treatment-as-usual (TAU)
Results indicated that the TFP group experienced significant decreases in ER visits and hospitalizations during treatment year, as well as significant increases in global functioning when compared to TAU.

TFP vs. Treatment by community experts
A randomized clinical trial compared the outcomes of TFP or treatment by community experts for 104 borderline patients. The dropout rate was significantly higher in the community psychotherapy condition; however, the dropout rate for TFP was 38.5%, which the authors acknowledge as somewhat higher than dropout rates associated with dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) and schema-focused therapy (SFT). The TFP group experienced significant improvement in personality organization, psychosocial functioning, and number of suicide attempts. However, in this study TFP was not associated with a significant change in self-harming behaviors.

TFP vs. DBT vs. Supportive treatment
Prior to treatment and at four-month intervals during treatment, patients were assessed in the following domains: suicidal behavior, aggression, impulsivity, anxiety, depression, and social adjustment. Results indicate that patients in all three conditions showed improvement in multiple domains at the one-year mark. Only DBT and TFP were significantly associated with improvement in suicidal behaviors; however, TFP outperformed DBT in anger and impulsivity improvement. Overall, participation in TFP predicted significant improvement in 10 of the 12 variables across the 6 domains, DBT in 5 of 12, and ST in 6 of the 12 variables.

TFP vs. SFT
Significant improvements were found in both treatment groups on DSM-IV BPD criteria and on all four of the study’s outcome measures (borderline psychopathology, general psychopathology, quality of life, and TFP/SFT personality concepts) after 1-, 2-, and 3-years. SFT was associated with a significantly higher retention rate. After three years of treatment, SFT patients showed greater increases in quality of life, and significantly more SFT patients recovered or showed clinical improvement on the BPD Severity Index, fourth version. More specifically, the SFT group improved significantly more than the TFP group with respect to relationships, impulsivity, and parasuicidal/suicidal behavior. It was concluded that SFT was significantly more effective than TFP on all outcome measures assessed during the study. A follow-up of this study concluded that both clients and therapists rated therapeutic alliance higher in SFT than in TFP.