HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS Psychiatric Bulletin Advances in Psychiatric Treatment All RCPsych Journals		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text (PDF) Submit an eLetter Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via CrossRef Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Haigh, R. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Haigh, R.

Psychosocial treatment programmes for personality disorders: service developments and research

West Berkshire Psychotherapy Service, Winterbourne House, 53-55 Argyle Road, Reading RGI 7YL

EDITED BY MATTHEW HOTOPF

Chiesa & Fonagy (2000) clearly demonstrate the beneficial effects of therapeutic community treatment for personality disorder, and more so in the treatment limb with less hospitalisation and more day care.

The logical extension of this is to offer these programmes with only day care. Several units around the country are now doing this, including new units in Aberdeen and Maidstone, as well as long-established units such as our own in Reading and the Red House in Salford.

The evidence from systematic reviews and meta-analyses for the effectiveness of therapeutic communities in treatment of personality disorders is strong (Lees & Manning, 1999) and, together with the Cassel study, demonstrates the need for new, creative ways of setting up effective treatment programmes.

A multi-centre research project funded by the National Lotteries Charities Board is now underway, which should help in this endeavour. It is using multi-level modelling and a path-analytic equation modelling technique to determine the impact of a number of features that therapeutic community programmes have. This research is more complex and sophisticated than a simple randomised controlled trial design, but for treatments that do not fit a drug model paradigm it will be much more helpful in designing effective programmes of therapy. The protocol is available at www.pettarchiv.org.uk/atc-protocol.htm.

REFERENCES

Chiesa, M. & Fonagy, P. (2000) Cassel Personality Disorder Study. Methodology and treatment effects. British Journal of Psychiatry, 176, 485-491.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

Lees, J. & Manning, N. (1999) CRD Report 17: Therapeutic Community Effectiveness. A Systematic International Review of Therapeutic Community for People with Personality Disorders and Mentally Disordered Offenders. York: NHS Centre for Reviews and Dissemination, University of York.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				C. Evans and P. Reynolds Survey of the provision of psychological therapies for older people Psychiatr. Bull., January 1, 2006; 30(1): 10 - 13. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				S. Evans A survey of the provision of psychological treatments to older adults in the NHS Psychiatr. Bull., November 1, 2004; 28(11): 411 - 414. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				R. Haigh Therapeutic community research: past, present and future Psychiatr. Bull., February 1, 2002; 26(2): 65 - 68. [Full Text] [PDF]

This Article Full Text (PDF) Submit an eLetter Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via CrossRef Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Haigh, R. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Haigh, R.