Dialectical Behavior Therapy

The main objective of the study is to provide new knowledge about the implementation of DBT-informed environmental therapy in short-term substance use disorder (SUD) inpatient treatment. The study will examine which organizational and clinical conditions promote or inhibit implementation in clinical practice by elucidating how the implementation is experienced by staff (including experiences with structure, skill focus and environmental therapeutic principles) related to DBT-informed environmental therapy, DBT-SUD skill groups and patients' perceived satisfaction and utility. A secondary and exploratory aim is to examine preliminary trends in clinical measures in patients over time, including changes in symptom burden and reported use of DBT skills throughout the course of treatment. The study further seeks, at a descriptive and hypothesis-generating level, to explore patterns in patient-reported conditions related to substance abuse, emotion regulation, and other clinical burden. The sample will consist of up to 70 adult patients and 12 staff. One half of the patients will receive ordinary short-term inpatient treatment, while the other half will receive DBT informs milieu therapy after the approach has been established in clinical practice without being implemented. All patients will complete questionnaires upon admission (baseline), week 6 and upon discharge (week 12).

The study aims to assess the efficacy of culturally adapted dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT) for addressing emotional dysregulation in a low- and middle-income country, as well as to evaluate the impact of DBT on secondary outcomes such as borderline personality traits, self-harm or suicide, depression, anxiety, and individuals' functioning and disability. Through a rigorous Randomised Controlled Trial (RCT), the research seeks to assess how cultural adaptations of dialectical behaviour therapy improve its applicability, engagement, and outcomes in diverse socio-cultural settings, contributing to more accessible and effective mental health interventions in resource-limited regions.