Dialectical Behavior Therapy for Adolescents With Self-harm and Suicidal Behavior- an Open Trial

NCT ID: NCT06315075

Last Updated: 2026-01-22

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: RECRUITING
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 140 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2024-01-15
• Study Completion Date: 2029-12-31

Brief Summary

The goal of this pre-post-follow-up study is to examine how well the treatment Dialectical behavior therapy for adolescents (DBT-A) with a duration of 20 weeks for adolescents with self-harm and suicidal behavior works in routine clinical practice. The main questions it aims to answer are:

• to investigate how well DBT-A works after treatment and at 3-month follow-up, measured by episodes of self-harm, suicide attempts, depressive symptoms and quality of life, drop-out from treatment and number of possible participants who decline DBT-A.
• to investigate how well DBT-A works at 12 months follow-up
• to investigate whether pre-treatment factors can predict who will benefit from treatment

Detailed Description

Self-harm and suicidal ideation are prevalent among adolescents and associated with major mental health problems and adverse life events. Dialectical behavior therapy for adolescents (DBT-A) is an empirically supported treatment for self-harm and suicidal ideation in adolescents. However, knowledge is scarce on the effectiveness, long-term outcomes, acceptability, and dropout of DBT-A when implemented and delivered as part of routine clinical practice in the Norwegian national health care system. The main aim of this study is to examine the outcomes from DBT-A in terms of self-harm episodes, suicide attempts, and emergency hospital admission, in addition to acceptability and dropout, when DBT-A is delivered at the Department of Child and adolescent psychiatry (PBU), Haukeland University Hospital (HUS). The study is an uncontrolled pre-post study with one-year follow-up and includes three aims: to evaluate outcomes of DBT-A up to three months post-treatment, at one-year follow-up, and to describe predictors of outcome for adolescents receiving DBT-A.

Conditions

Self-harm; Suicidal Ideation; Suicide and Self-harm

Study Design

• Allocation Method: NA
• Intervention Model: SINGLE_GROUP
• Primary Study Purpose: TREATMENT
• Blinding Strategy: NONE

Study Groups

DBT-A

Single group uncontrolled study. All participants will receive DBT-A

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Dialectical behavior therapy for adolescents (DBT-A)

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

A 20-week DBT-A with a weekly individual session (45 minutes), a weekly session of multifamily skills training groups with a caregiver (120 minutes), and telephone consultation with individual therapists outside therapy sessions as needed. The treatment consists of four components and is delivered according to the manual except for the phone coaching that PBU offers workdays until 8 pm.

Interventions

Dialectical behavior therapy for adolescents (DBT-A)

A 20-week DBT-A with a weekly individual session (45 minutes), a weekly session of multifamily skills training groups with a caregiver (120 minutes), and telephone consultation with individual therapists outside therapy sessions as needed. The treatment consists of four components and is delivered according to the manual except for the phone coaching that PBU offers workdays until 8 pm.

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Other Intervention Names

DBT-A

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• Age 13-18 years
• Ongoing or a history of self-harm the last six months; current suicidal behavior (suicidal thoughts or at least one suicide attempt within the previous six months); at least three criteria of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual -5 (DSM-5) Borderline personality disorder (BPD), or the self-destruction criterion of DSM-5 BPD in addition to minimum two subthreshold criteria as assessed by the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-5 Personality Disorders (SCID-5-PD) (First et al., 2016)
• Fluency in Norwegian
• One parent/trusted adult that can participate together with the adolescent.

Exclusion Criteria

• Intellectual disability
• Significant learning or language impairments
• Autism spectrum disorder
• Anorexia Nervosa
• Any psychotic disorder
• Substance abuse disorder. These patients will be offered treatment as usual at their local outpatient clinic.

• Minimum Eligible Age: 13 Years
• Maximum Eligible Age: 18 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Sponsors

Haukeland University Hospital

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Responsibility Role: SPONSOR

Principal Investigators

Gro Janne H. Wergeland, MD, PhD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Haukeland University Hospital

Locations

Dept. of child and adolescent psychiatry, Haukeland University Hospital

Bergen, Bergen, Norway

Site Status: RECRUITING

Countries

Norway

Central Contacts

Gro Janne H. Wergeland, MD, PhD

Role: CONTACT

gneh@helse-bergen.no

+47 48176828

Anne Mari Syversen, Psychol

Role: CONTACT

anne.mari.syversen@helse-bergen.no

+47 55975000

Facility Contacts

Gro Janne H. Wergeland, MD, PhD

Role: primary

gneh@helse-bergen.no

+47 48176828

Anne Mari Syversen, Psychol

Role: backup

anne.mari.syversen@helse-bergen.no

+4755975000

Other Identifiers

657876

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id