Grant: Project Grant

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a common and lethal disorder affecting ~1-3% of North Americans, with 10% dying by suicide. BPD treatments are hard to access, take a long time, and do not always work. As well, intimate partners of people with BPD struggle with mental health problems themselves but are rarely treated. It is critical to find treatments that work faster, better, and address partner's mental health needs. Problems with (1) emotions and (2) relationships are the core of BPD, but most BPD treatments target the first problem and not the second. BPD treatments may work faster, better, have longer-lasting impacts, and address partner mental health if they target both problems. Therefore, members of our team created Sage. Named after a plant that thrives by connecting with other plants, Sage is the first brief psychotherapy for both people with BPD and their partners with three targets: BPD symptoms, relationship conflict, and partner mental health. Early tests suggest that Sage may work well. However, it is important to understand if Sage is more helpful than the treatment that couples wherein one member has BPD usually receive,¬ which involves case management for people with BPD and education about BPD for partners (Case Management + Psychoeducation; CMP). In our study, 152 couples of diverse cultural, racial and sexual backgrounds with a member with BPD will be assigned randomly to receive either Sage or CMP. We will measure BPD symptoms, relationship conflict, and partner mental health at the start, middle, and end of both treatments, and one, three, and six months after them. We will compare the two treatments on the measures we collected to determine if one is more helpful than the other in improving them. Findings will indicate if Sage could be helpful in reducing suffering from BPD in Canada¬ - including suicide and self-injury¬- and improving partner mental health more quickly and with less cost than existing offerings.