efficacy of a dialectical behavior therapy-based journal-writing group with inpatient adolescent females: improving emotion regulation, depressive symptoms, and suicidal ideation.

• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2047/d10019133

PURPOSE: To determine whether a dialectical behavior therapy (DBT)-based journal-writing group is effective at increasing the emotion regulation abilities and decreasing depression and suicidal ideation in a sample of inpatient adolescent females. METHOD: Forty inpatient adolescent females completed surveys of emotion regulation, depression, and suicidal ideation (Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20), Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), & Suicide Probability Scale (SPS)) at pre- and post-intervention. Twenty-one adolescent females participated in the DBT-based journal-writing experimental group and nineteen adolescent females participated in the treatment as usual control group. RESULTS: Participants in the experimental group reported significant decreases in suicidal ideation and depressive symptoms and significant increases in emotion regulation abilities (BDI: t = 4.3, p = .000, DERS: t = 2.9, p = .009, TAS-20: t = 2.0, p = .058, SPS: z = -1.9, p = .053), whereas participants in the control group did not report significant change (BDI: t = 1.3, p = .198, TAS-20: t = 0.5, p = .649, DERS: t = 1.4, p = .187, SPS: z = -.1, p = .887). When changes in pre- to post-test scores were compared between the control group and the experimental group, significant results were found only for the BDI (t = -2.5, p = .019). CONCLUSION: A DBT-based journal-writing group is an effective way to decrease depressive symptoms and suicidal ideation and increase emotion regulation abilities in inpatient adolescent females and can be used in the future as a means to maximize treatment gains for adolescents on inpatient units.