Volume 27, Issue 1
DOI: 10.24205/03276716.2018.1045
Standard Dialectical Behavioral Therapy for Bipolar I Disorder: A case study with two year follow-up
Abstract
This work aims to analyze the effectiveness of dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) in an individual diagnosed of bipolar disorder I after a year of treatment and a follow-up conducted two years after the treatment. The patient was suffering from a disorder of long evolution having received numerous psychological and psychiatric treatments before starting the DBT program. The results indicated that DBT was effective as there was a decrease in the most relevant clinical symptoms, such as the number of mood episodes and the number of emergency room admissions, as well as an increase in the regulation of affect and adherence to pharmacotherapy. The improvement was also reflected in the level of overall performance. The outcomes were maintained at 2-year follow-up. These findings support the convenience of using strategies aimed to improve emotion and behavioral regulation in line with other studies demonstrating the efficacy of DBT in the treatment of individuals presenting pervasive emotion dysregulation.
Keywords
Bipolar disorder, personality disorder, emotion regulation, cognitive behavior therapy, dialectical behavior therapy