Grant: Master's Award: Canada Graduate Scholarships

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a severe mental illness characterized by emotion dysregulation, interpersonal impairment, and high suicidality. It affects 1.6% of the general population and up to 33% of transgender and gender diverse(TGD) individuals. Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) is the most widely studied psychotherapeutic treatment for BPD. To date, the vast majority of DBT research hasfocused on cisgender women, with a notable lack of systematic investigation of gender differences in treatment response. The Gender Minority Stress Model posits that core BPD symptoms may be exacerbated by gender minority stress in TGD individuals, and thus more intractable. In order to encourage effective, equitable treatment of BPD, further investigation into treatment targets in this population is critically warranted. The proposed study will address the gender gap in the DBT literature by investigating differences in treatment response to DBT in TGD individuals with BPD, as compared to their cisgender counterparts. Outpatients with BPD will complete self-report questionnaires to measure their gender identity, experience of gender minority stress, and BPD symptomatology, both at the outset and conclusion of 24 weeks of standard DBT treatment. Descriptive statistics, analyses of variance, and a hierarchical multiple regression will be implemented to examine (1) change in BPD symptoms over time in cisgender males, cisgender females, and TGD individuals, and (2) the nature of the relations between gender identity, gender minority stress, and BPD symptom change following DBT. Exploring DBT treatment response across the full spectrum of genderswill facilitate the provision of more tailored, impactful care to all individuals who suffer from BPD.