The Experience of Abandonment Before and After Receiving Dialectical Behaviour Therapy

Abstract

The objective of this study was to determine whether receiving Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) influences the perception and experience of abandonment by individuals with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). Participant eligibility was primarily defined by a confirmed diagnosis of BPD and completion of the first phase (e.g. skills training) of DBT. Four co-researchers (three female and one male) completed both the biographical questionnaire and the semi-structured interview administered by the primary researcher in one-on-one sessions. Verbatim transcripts of the interviews were analyzed according to the phenomenological existential method. The results indicated that there is a common emotional, cognitive, and behavioural experience of abandonment among the participants both before and after DBT, that the experience of abandonment is indeed different after DBT, and that this difference in experience is attributable to the application of DBT skills and DBT therapist trait of empathy used as an intervention in the form of validation.