Psychological treatment of Personality Disorders: A multi-centered randomised controlled trial on the (cost-)effectiveness of Schema-Focused Therapy.

With a Multi-Centered Randomized Controlled Trial with pre-post assessments the (cost-)effectiveness of Schema-Focused Therapy (SFT) compared to Treatment as Usual (TAU) and Client Centered Therapy according to Sachse (CCT) will be assessed as treatment for 6 Personality Disorders (PDs). 250 outpatients of mental health institutes in the Netherlands with a cluster-C, narcissistic, histrionic or paranoid PD as defined by DSM-IV criteria as first diagnosis will be recruited. The primary outcome measure is recovery of PDs as assessed with the SCID-2 interview. Secondary outcome measures include Quality of Life, general psychopathology complaints, axis-1 diagnoses, personality measures, social functioning, global functioning (GAF score DSM-IV). Power/data analysis: N = 100 per condition suffices to demonstrate with power = 90% (2-tailed test) a difference between TAU and SFT in % recovered patients of 23.8% vs. 45.5 % (odds ratio = 2.667) which is expected on the basis of experiences with open trials and the BPD trial. (N = 250 includes a 18% study drop-out). Data-analyses will be done by survival analysis and logistic regression (primary outcome) and MANOVA (secondary outcome measures). Both an intention-to-treat and a completers analysis will be done. For the economic evaluation a combined cost-effectiveness/cost-utility analysis will be performed from a societal perspective.

To assess the (cost-)effectiveness of Schema-Focused Therapy (SFT) compared to Treatment as Usual (TAU) and Client Centered Therapy according to Sachse (CCT) as treatment for 6 Personality Disorders (PDs).

Schema-Focused Therapy (SFT) versus Treatment as Usual (TAU) and Client Centered Therapy according to Sachse (CCT).