Cited by 70Personality Disorders and PsychopathologyPsychotherapy Techniques and ApplicationsAnxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes

Short-term group schema therapy for mixed personality disorders: a pilot study

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Skewes, Sally A., Samson, Rachel A., Simpson, Susan G., van Vreeswijk, Michiel·2015·Frontiers in Psychology

Abstract

Schema Therapy has shown promising results for personality disorders but there is a limited evidence base for group schema therapy (ST-g) with mixed personality disorders. The aim of this study was to explore the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary effectiveness of ST-g in a sample of eight participants with mixed personality disorders (with a predominant diagnosis of avoidant personality disorder) and high levels of comorbidity. Treatment was comprised of 20 sessions which included cognitive, behavioral, and experiential techniques. Specific schema-based strategies were chosen for a diagnostically mixed group of personality disorder clients. Six participants attended until end of treatment and two dropped-out before mid-treatment. All outcome measures showed changes with large effect sizes in avoidant personality disorder symptom severity, depression and anxiety levels between pre-therapy and follow-up. Four participants achieved a loss of personality disorder diagnosis at the end of therapy. By follow-up, five participants had achieved a loss of diagnosis, suggesting that participants derived ongoing benefits from the group even after treatment ended. Six participants no longer met criteria for depression at the end of treatment and this was maintained for all participants at 6-month follow-up. At follow-up, the majority of participants showed clinically significant change on the Global Symptom Index (GSI). For the Schema Mode Inventory (SMI) maladaptive modes, the majority of participants showed improvement at follow-up. At follow-up, 40% of participants showed clinically significant change on the SMI adaptive modes. Qualitative feedback indicates that the group helps to normalize participants' psychological experiences and difficulties and promotes self-expression and self-disclosure, while reducing inhibition. Preliminary results suggest that short-term ST-g may benefit those with mixed personality disorders, but generalizability is limited by the small sample size and lack of control group.

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  1. Lincoln Y. S. Guba E. G. (1985). Naturalistic Enquiry. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.
  2. Millon T. Millon C. Davis R. Grossman S. (2006). MCMI-III Manual, 3rd Edn. Minneapolis, MN: Pearson Education, Inc.
  3. Young J. E. Brown G. (1994). Young Schema Questionnaire, in Cognitive Therapy for Personality Disorders: A Schema-Focused Approach, Rev. Edn. (Sarasota, FL: Professional Resource Press), 63– 76.

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Authors
Skewes, S. A., Samson, R. A., Simpson, S. G., & van Vreeswijk, M.
Affiliations
University of South Australia (AU)
Corresponding author
Simpson, Susan G.
Venue
Frontiers in Psychology
Published
2015-01-22
Volume
5
Pages
1592-1592
ISSN
1664-1078 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2029097266
Cited by
70
References
41
Citations by year
2026: 4 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 9 · 2020: 8 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 9 · 2017: 3 · 2016: 5 · 2015: 2
FWCI
7.86
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
cc-by
Locations
  • Frontiers in Psychology (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • UniSA Research Outputs Repository (University of South Australia) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Personality Disorders and Psychopathology
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychotherapy Techniques and Applications
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
Keywords
group schema therapy, avoidant personality disorder, personality disorder comorbidity, brief psychotherapy, treatment feasibility and acceptability, depression, anxiety, Schema Mode Inventory, self-disclosure

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