A brief mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) programme was tested in a small pilot study with individuals who have borderline personality disorder (BPD) and engage in non-suicidal self-injury. After the programme, participants showed reductions in self-injury frequency and improvements in related psychological symptoms. The findings suggest that a shorter MBCT intervention may be feasible and helpful for this population, but the uncontrolled pre-post design limits causal conclusions.
A brief, group-based mindfulness-based cognitive therapy program tailored to reduce non-suicidal self-injury (MBCT-NSSI) was evaluated in outpatients with borderline personality disorder and recent NSSI. Among 50 completers, NSSI frequency, depressive symptoms, hopelessness, impulsivity, and maladaptive emotion regulation significantly decreased, while mindfulness, self-compassion, and self-esteem improved. These changes occurred during the intervention phase, not during a waiting-list period, suggesting treatment-specific effects. Dissociative symptoms showed a non-significant trend toward improvement. Higher impulsivity, maladaptive regulation, and higher self-compassion predicted dropout among eligible patients, whereas fewer comorbid diagnoses predicted lower treatment retention. The authors conclude MBCT-NSSI may be a feasible and effective adjunctive intervention.