Narrative Exposure Therapy in Women With Borderline Personality Disorder and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

Narrative Exposure Therapy (NET) is an evidence-based trauma-focussed treatment, suitable for survivors of prolonged and repeated exposure to traumatic stress and childhood adversity. Patients with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) often suffer from a comorbid Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) caused by multiple traumatic events. Therapeutic aims are the reduction of PTSD-Symptoms in these patients via activation of associative neural networks related to traumatic experiences and habituation of fear and the placement of traumatic experiences in a reconstructed, detailed and consistent autobiography. This practice enables the processing of and coping with painful memories and the construction of clear contingencies of dangerous and safe conditions, generally leading to significant emotional recovery. The investigators assume that using NET the reduction of PTSD symptom severity is greater compared to treatment by Dialectical-Behavioral Therapy (DBT).