BACKGROUND:To date, there are no empirically validated treatments of good quality for adolescents showing suicidality and non-suicidal self-injurious behavior. Risk factors for suicide are impulsive and non-suicidal self-injurious behavior, depression, conduct disorders and child abuse. Behind this background, we tested the main hypothesis of our study; that Dialectical Behavioral Therapy for Adolescents is an effective treatment for these patients.METHODS:Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) has been developed by Marsha Linehan - especially for the outpatient treatment of chronically non-suicidal patients diagnosed with borderline personality disorder. The modified version of DBT for Adolescents (DBT-A) from Rathus & Miller has been adapted for a 16-24 week outpatient treatment in the German-speaking area by our group. The efficacy of treatment was measured by a pre-/post- comparison and a one-year follow-up with the aid of standardized instruments (SCL-90-R, CBCL, YSR, ILC, CGI).RESULTS:In the pilot study, 12 adolescents were treated. At the beginning of therapy, 83% of patients fulfilled five or more DSM-IV criteria for borderline personality disorder. From the beginning of therapy to one year after its end, the mean value of these diagnostic criteria decreased significantly from 5.8 to 2.75. 75% of patients were kept in therapy. For the behavioral domains according to the SCL-90-R and YSR, we have found effect sizes between 0.54 and 2.14.During treatment, non-suicidal self-injurious behavior reduced significantly. Before the start of therapy, 8 of 12 patients had attempted suicide at least once. There were neither suicidal attempts during treatment with DBT-A nor at the one-year follow-up.CONCLUSIONS:The promising results suggest that the interventions were well accepted by the patients and their families, and were associated with improvement in multiple domains including suicidality, non-suicidal self-injurious behavior, emotion dysregulation and depression from the beginning of therapy to the one-year follow-up.

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OBJECTIVES:Catatonic symptoms in children and adolescents have not been well investigated and there are hardly any evaluated recommendations for treatment. The present report deals with the course of disease and the therapy of a severe case of catatonic schizophrenia.METHODS:Reported is the case of a 17-year-old-girl suffering from severe, life-threatening catatonic schizophrenia.RESULTS:Following unsuccessful pre-treatment, medication with clozapine markedly improved the pathology.CONCLUSIONS:Further investigations and case reports about the course of disease and the therapy of the uncommon clinical picture of sever catatonic schizophrenia in children and adolescents are necessary.

Catatonic symptoms in children and adolescents have not been well investigated and there are hardly any evaluated recommendations for treatment. The present report deals with the course of disease and the therapy of a severe case of catatonic schizophrenia. Methods: Reported is the case of a 17-year-old girl suffering from severe, life-threatening catatonic schizophrenia. Results: Following unsuccessful pre-treatment, medication with clozapine markedly improved the pathology. Conclusions: Further investigations and case reports about the course of disease and the therapy of the uncommon clinical picture of severe catatonic schizophrenia in children and adolescents are necessary.

OBJECTIVES:In Germany suicide ranks as the second leading cause of death in adolescents. Risk factors for suicide are impulsive and self-injurious behaviour, depression, and conduct disorder. The main hypothesis of our study is that Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) for adolescents is an effective method of treatment for these patients.METHODS:DBT was developed by Marsha Linehan specifically for the outpatient treatment of chronically parasuicidal female patients with a diagnosis of borderline personality disorder. Miller & Rathus modified DBT for use with adolescents (DBT-A). and our group adapted the DBT-A for use in an outpatient treatment setting in Germany. In a pre-post comparison, the efficacy of treatment was measured using standardized instruments (SCL-90-R, CBCL, YSR, ILK, CGI, etc.).RESULTS:In a pilot study of 12 adolescents, we found effect sizes between 1.1 and 2.9. During treatment, self-injurious behaviour declined significantly. Prior to entering therapy, 8 of the 12 patients had attempted suicide at least once. During treatment according to DBT-A there were no suicide attempts.CONCLUSIONS:These results are so promising that we are now planning a randomized, multi-centre study.

Zusammenfassung. In Deutschland ist Tod durch Suizid die zweithäufigste, in den USA die dritthäufigste Todesursache im Jugendalter. Als Risikofaktoren für vollendete Suizide werden impulsive Handlungsmuster, Selbstverletzungen, Depressionen, Sozialstörungen sowie frühkindlicher Missbrauch benannt. Für Patienten mit einer Borderline-Störung liegt die Suizidrate bei fünf bis zehn Prozent. Die Dialektisch-Behaviorale Therapie (DBT) wurde von Marsha Linehan zur Behandlung von Frauen mit Borderline-Persönlichkeitsstörungen (Diagnosestellung nach DSM-Kriterien) entwickelt, die entweder chronisch suizidal sind und/oder sich selber verletzen. Gegenüber der Standard-DBT wurde für die Arbeit mit Jugendlichen eine Reihe von Modifikationen vorgenommen, um die Behandlung der jugendlichen Zielgruppe anzupassen. Durch unsere Arbeitsgruppe wurde die Dialektisch-Behaviorale Therapie für Adoleszente (DBT-A) für den deutschen Sprachraum überarbeitet und angepasst. In der vorliegenden Arbeit werden die ersten Ergebnisse der DBT-A-Pilotstudie mit zwölf Jugendlichen vorgestellt. Die Ergebnisse sind sehr vielversprechend.