Comparison of the Effectiveness of Mentalization Based Therapy and Cognitive-Analytical Therapy on Ego Strength and Defense Mechanisms of People with Borderline Personality Disorder

Aims: Mentalization based therapy (MBT) and cognitive-analytical therapy (CAT) are few psychotherapy approaches offering specific methods for the treatment of borderline personality disorder (BPD). Therefore, the purpose of this study was comparison of the effectiveness of MBT and CAT on improving the ego strength and defense mechanisms of people with BPD. Material and Methods: This was an quasi-experimental study using pretest-posttest design with a control group and follow up stage. 40 men with BPD were selected by purposive sampling from men admitted to Isar psychiatric hospital and the psychiatric department of Fatemi hospital in Ardabil in 2018 and were assigned randomly to two experimental groups and one control group. The first experimental group received 20 sessions of MBT and second experimental group 16 sessions of CAT. For collect data were used from psychological inventory ego strength and defense styles. Data were analyzed using mixed analysis of variance and Schaffe post hoc test. Findings: The results showed that both methods of intervention were effective in improving the ego strength and defense mechanisms of people with BPD (P<0/001). However, the effect of MBT on the overall score of the ego strength and the immature defenses was greater than the other intervention (P<0/05) and there was no significant difference in neurotic defense between these two interventions (P>0/05). Conclusion: The present research results can provide the use of these therapies as part of non-drug treatment program in different treatment centers or in psychiatric hospitals.