Efficacy of dialectical behavior therapy for adolescent with emotional dysregulation, self-harm and suicidal ideation
Claudio Paloscia, Noemi Liburdi, Michela Giordano
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) has been widely used to treat self-harm, suicidal ideation and emotional dysregulation in adults with/without borderline personality disorder (BPD). DBT has demonstrated to reduce self-directed violence in clinical trials. Nevertheless, there are few studies about the DBT efficacy to reduce self-injurious behaviours negative emotions and suicidal thoughts among adolescents. A narrative review of dialectical behavior therapy for adolescents (DBT-A) efficacy on self-harm, emotion dysregulation and suicidal ideation in age group 12-20 years was conducted. Also, the DBT efficacy among adolescents with oppositional defiant disorder, depressive disorders, substance use disorders, eating disorders and some neurodevelopmental disorders was investigated. Four databases were searched for peer-review articles between January 2000 and July 2023: MEDLINE of National Library of Medicine, Scopus, Web of Science and EMBASE. Moreover, qualitative studies to understand adolescent and parents’ experience of DBT were analysed and described. Findings indicate that DBT-A represents a valuable treatment in reducing self-harm, suicidal ideation and depression in adolescents. An important mediator effect was emotion regulation. Improvement in emotion regulation mediates association between DBT and self-harm reduction. Moreover, DBT predicts substance use reduction and externalising behaviours during post treatment. The use of some adaptations of DBT protocol for adolescents with eating disorders and substance use disorders gives promising results.
Keywords
Dialectical behavior therapy, Emotional dysregulation, Self-harm, Suicide, Review.
